Sep-Oct 2016 Issue | Business View Oceania

87 AT A GLANCE WHO: Retirement Villages Association of New Zealand WHAT: A voluntary industry association representing more than 95 percent of the registered retirement villages industry WHERE: Level 11, Petherick Tower, 38 - 42 Waring Taylor St, Wellington WEBSITE: retirementvillages.org.nz 95 percent of the registered retirement villages in the country by unit number. The association, which was formed in 1986, represents retirement village owners, managers, and developers as well as third-party individuals and or- ganizations who are part of the supply chain. The RVA is entwined in every as- pect of the industry, from government policies to education and training. “We create a favorable climate in which retirement villages can flourish. Over the last five or six years, retire- ment villages have become an accept- able mainstream housing option for older people. So much so that, when I first started, maybe five percent of the over 65 population lived in retirement villages. Today, more than twelve per- cent does. Certainly the association has driven a lot of that acceptance by promoting the benefits of what retire- ment villages have to offer so that the media now regard it as an entirely log- ical housing option”, explains John Col- lyns, RVA’s Executive Director, about the work of the association. Certifying trusted members Retirement villages which wish to become members of the association