Seniors Housing & Healthcare Trends

LOS ANGELES: Assisted living apartments for seniors are to be integrated into a major regeneration site development.

About 240 assisted living Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats will be launched in Queenstown in the upcoming November Build-to-Order (BTO) exercise.

The Community Care Apartments (CCA) will provide senior-friendly housing with care services that can be scaled according to a person’s needs.

They aim to better support seniors to age independently within the community, said the Ministry of National Development (MND), Ministry of Health (MOH) and HDB in a joint factsheet on Thursday (Oct 27).

This is the second CCA pilot, with the first in Bukit Batok – launched in February 2021 – drawing an application rate of 4.2 applicants per unit.

The flats in Queenstown will be part of the Queensway Canopy BTO development, sited alongside blocks of three-room and four-room flats.

“This deliberate integration is to encourage and promote intergenerational bonding as well as foster inclusivity and community interaction,” said the authorities.

Located at Queen’s Crescent, Queensway Canopy is situated within the Health District @ Queenstown.

The district is where HDB, the National University of Singapore (NUS), healthcare partners like the National University Health System (NUHS) and local grassroots organisations collaborate to pilot new strategies to create a built environment that promotes a healthy lifestyle and active and healthy ageing.

The nearby Alexandra Hospital will also enable medical and healthcare services to be incorporated into the care services for residents.

The blocks in the development will have staggered heights, from six to 40 storeys, and will be orientated to “maximise the views” from their units, said the authorities.

On the side of the development fronting the rail corridor is a stretch of interconnecting rooftop gardens overlooking the canopy of trees.

Each CCA unit will be equipped with senior-friendly fittings, including grab bars, wheelchair-accessible bathrooms with slip-resistant flooring and wide wheelchair-friendly main doors.

The flats – with an internal floor area of about 32sqm – come with a built-in wardrobe, cabinets and a furnished kitchen. This will allow seniors to move in quickly with minimum renovations needed.

They are designed with an open layout and come with sliding partitions to separate the living room and bedroom for privacy.

Each CCA unit will be paired with essential services so seniors can live independently with some healthcare assistance when needed. Services include 24-hour emergency monitoring and response, as well as basic health checks.

An onsite manager will help link residents up with relevant care service providers according to their needs. They will also help with simple household fixes.

Seniors who require assistance with daily activities or household services such as meal delivery, laundry and housekeeping can opt-in for these services at additional costs.

There will be communal spaces on every floor and seniors can use these spaces as “extensions of their own living rooms to mingle and bond with one another”, such as sharing meals or taking part in programmes curated by the community manager, said the authorities.

They can also access a wide range of social and communal facilities at the Social and Wellness Hub beside the CCA block. The hub includes an Active Ageing Centre (Care), an ActiveSG gym with age-friendly designs and rooftop gardens with community gardening plots.

“These facilities promote active living and provide opportunities for residents across different age groups to interact and build relationships as they participate in various social and recreational activities within a wider community,” said HDB, MND and MOH.

The nearby amenities include the Rail Corridor and Queenstown Sports Centre. Food centres such as Alexandra Village Food Centre, ABC Brickworks Market and Food Centre, Mei Ling Heights Market and Food Centre are also located near the development.