Challenges That Senior Housing Segment In India Faces Today

Senior housing, still in its nascent stages, is slowly and gradually gaining ground in Indian. The segment that caters to the needs of the senior citizen or people aged 60 years and above is aimed at providing them a comfortable lifestyle. Developers operating in this segment are building projects that provide complete assisted living catering to their medical needs and providing them with services for all their day-to-day needs.

According to a report recently released by the PHD Chamber of Commerce, Senior Housing: A Sunrise Sector in India, the size of the segment at present stands at $ 1.26 billion. This segment has the potential to touch a size of $7.7 billion by 2030. To know more about the key finding of the report, read here. 

The segment that is promising and has plenty of opportunities going further currently faces several challenges. Only with the overcoming of these challenges can the segment grow at a faster pace. PropGuide talks about these challenges:

The demand and supply mismatch

Currently, India is home to 10.4 crore elderly people. The number is expected to reach 32.4 crore by 2050, of which 9.7 crore will be living in urban areas. This means the demand for housing the elderly is going to grow substantially. According to M H Dalal, founder and chairman, Association of Senior Living in India (ASLI), "nearly 99 per cent of the housing for senior citizens is old age homes”. “These old age homes though provide for the old, do not promote a lifestyle. Moreover, in 2010 the demand for senior housing stood at 312,000 while the supply was only a mere 8,000. There is a huge gap still that needs to be fulfilled," says Dalai.

There is a demand for such housing where retired people want to live in a community of like-minded people, with dignity in a home of their own and be provided for facilities. At present, only a handful of developers are operating in this segment.

Land acquisition hurdles

Land acquisition, developers and industry bodies unanimously say, is the biggest hurdle in the growth of the segment. Projects meant for senior citizens are developed at a cost higher than the other projects, as additional facilities have to be provided. The maintenance of such projects is costlier, too. Understanding that this segment promotes a cause, incentives should be provided to development engaged in building senior housing projects.

Ankur Gupta, joint managing director, Ashiana Housing, says: "It would be easier to develop such projects if there is a possibility of zoning land, concessions are provided by the real estate law and the Goods and Services Tax, among others. At present, under the real estate law, the projects are handed over to the authority once completed, but for senior housing projects, special expertise is required for their smooth functioning. Are the associations equipped to maintain such projects?"

Adding to this, Ajay Dua, former secretary- ministry of commerce and industry, says: "There is a clear need for easy access to land. While there is special land zoning for social categories, there is no priority for senior housing yet. It is time that state governments came up with a provision, where a certain percentage of a project is earmarked for housing people of a certain age group."

Also read: Government Brings Senior Living To Centre Stage; To Evaluate Services Soon

Lack of human resource

Dalal points out that there is a lack of human resource that can be deployed in senior housing projects. For services, including medical, transportation, and security, there are no trained professionals to cater specifically to the seniors. The need of the hour, according to Dalal, is to create a workforce that is specially trained for such projects. This need can only be fulfilled by setting up training centres that cater specifically to this segment.

Lack of awareness

People have yet to warm up to the idea of senior living. These projects, say developers, provide the elderly a lifestyle that is comfortable, independent yet assisted. And, that has yet to be understood by people in general. There is a lack of awareness in India about such projects. There is a need is to promote these projects.

A holistic living

Industry experts are of the view that there is a lack of other facilities around the areas where these projects are coming up.

According to the report, there is a need to introduce a single-window mechanism for the elderly, to enable them to obtain all facilities, including life insurance, health insurance and information about senior living apartments under one roof.

“The government can also facilitate developers, by setting up hospitals, police stations, health camps, etc., near senior housing projects to boost its acceptability,” the report adds.