Whanganui rest homes stretched to limits as ‘accommodation crisis’ looms

New Vista rest home manager Dianne Grant says the accommodation crisis has crept up quickly. Photo / Bevan Conley.

Rest home managers say there is a shortage of spare beds in Whanganui and seniors may need to rely on family members for accommodation.

New Vista Rest Home manager Dianne Grant said most rest homes were at capacity or could not fill beds due to staffing shortages.

“Usually, if we have an empty bed it gets taken straight away.”

She said older people were staying longer in their homes due to lack of available spaces, and the cost of aged-care facilities.

“The accommodation crisis has crept up quickly.”

Enliven Central chief operating officer Nicola Turner said she was extremely concerned about accommodation for older people in Whanganui.

Her organisation owns Kōwhainui Home, Abingdon Retirement Village and Kōwhainui Retirement Village.

“We are in crisis here and it’s not an industry you can turn around quickly. It takes years to build a home.”

Lady Joy Rest Home in Aramoho recently closed after failing to secure a buyer, leaving residents to find spots in Whanganui and Marton aged-care homes.

There would continue to be closures, and the industry was almost past the point of no return, Turner said.

She said bed prices for rest homes in Whanganui were set based on low land values from 30 years ago.

Whanganui’s higher level of social deprivation also meant lower prices had to be charged at retirement villages for extras such as en-suites.

“Our home in Whanganui makes a lot less money than if it was sitting in Karori in Wellington.

“We now have a big waiting list for people that have no additional funds, and that’s becoming a problem everywhere.”

The facility manager for Living Waters Rest Home and Springvale Manor rest homes, Kylie Wagstaff, said both were completely full.

“This is the first time both have been full, so there’s definitely a demand for beds,” she said.

“We will be having to turn people away. We’ve tried not to in the past but there’s really nothing you can do when you’re at capacity.”

In July, the Whanganui Chronicle reported that up to 195 units needed to be added to the Whanganui District Council’s pensioner housing portfolio by 2050.

It currently has 275 units.

Older people were going to become more reliant on the living situations of family members, Turner said.

That would put pressure on those households to provide adequate care due to their “complex needs”, she said.

“You need special diets and you’ve got people with dementia who could go wandering off.

“The practicalities of looking after some of these people in a domestic house, it just cripples the family.”

Age Concern manager Michelle Malcolm said there needed to be increased community support for older people.

“If they (central government) looked at supporting older people better at home, then that could take some of the pressure off the demand for rest home beds.”

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.