Then, now and tomorrow: housing for an ageing population

The key to future boomer housing in Australia is the provision of sustainable and affordable housing landscapes that promote the health and wellbeing of residents for the duration of their life. This paper focuses on Gold Coast housing landscapes, where a number of innovative boomer housing projects are currently being developed. Research will map past and current boomer housing trajectories and ask what of tomorrow’s housing landscapes and what can be learned from past housing practices, in particular with regard to the health and wellbeing of residents, housing affordability and sustainability. To this end a comparative analysis is undertaken between existing 1980s suburban development (the ‘Then’ of our story) and more recent development in the mid 2000s (the ‘Now’ of our story). The aim of this analysis is to identify factors that foster healthy ageing of residents and position these at the centre of calls for sustainable and affordable boomer housing landscapes for tomorrow.