John Scott moved into his small Reservoir unit 21 years ago. Back then, when Rotary owned the group of 22 independent living units, he only intended to stay a year.

He liked it so much, he's still there.

Not for much longer. He and his neighbours, aged from their 60s to their 80s, must be out by April.

The 80-year-old's home is now owned by the Mayflower Group. The not-for-profit group bought the Reservoir property for $1 in 2008, when Rotary could no longer afford to run it.

Now Mayflower has applied to Darebin Council to rebuild and expand its aged care facility from 38 beds to 110 beds, with 40 per cent set aside for low-income residents.

Mayflower's aged care beds are for people needing higher levels of assistance, who can no longer live independently. The independent unit residents though, will go to make way for the expansion.

"But they can't put us out on the street," said Mr Scott, who with his fellow residents has been dismayed to have been asked to leave. Mayflower's policy slogan is care without compromise. "It's really compromise without care," Mr Scott said.

Mayflower can't evict the tenants, under the Retirement Villages Act. "And we wouldn't choose to," said Mayflower's Andrew Venosta. He said the group was trying everything possible to rehouse the residents in other independent living units, or in social housing, and has engaged several housing groups to try and find the tenants new homes.

"We are only required to give them six months notice and we've actually given them 12 months," Mr Venosta said.

Independent living units were built in great numbers from the 1950s by churches, charities and not-for-profit organisations. Around 9000 were built in Victoria. A recent report by the Housing for the Aged Action Group found that this had fallen to around 3000 today. 

The units have been gradually phased out from the 1980s with the rise of private retirement villages and the collapse of direct federal government funding.

Aged care, though, continues to attract federal funding, and it has led housing and care providers to consolidate facilities like Reservoir to provide more of it – and less unprofitable unassisted housing.

Mr Venosta said the Mayflower Group was not taking the decision to close the 40-year-old units lightly, and had done so only after it had done a study finding there were 800 people in the region around Reservoir needing aged care, compared to few needing an independent unit. "To have a viable aged care facility they need 100 beds," he said.

Shanny Gordon, from Housing for the Aged Action Group, said Mayflower was trying to find its residents alternative housing, and paying relocation costs. She said many other operators of independent living units weren't so kind.

But she said the process was still very unsettling for those being asked to leave. "It's really stressful for the residents," she said.

By Clay Lucas, The Age, 23 September 2016

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