by Jenny Holmes

Created on: October 24, 2010

"Retirement Home" for some people conjures up elderly people sitting in a large residents lounge looking at each other or wandering around the grounds with their zimmer frames.   This is certainly not a correct assumption.    People put 'retirement home' and 'nursing home' into the same category but this is not the case, certainly not in the UK anyway.

In the UK there are a number of  Housing Associations specifically designed for people over the age of 55 years.  These can be apartments, bungalows, or even houses.    Most Housing Associations are private, some of which are run as a charitable trust - a non-for-profit organisation - and some as a private business.   There are a huge number of Housing Associations for the over 55's sprouting up everywhere and anyone can put their name down for one in the area of their choice whether they  live in that area or not.   Nearly all the accommodation available will be rented, some higher than others.   The rent will include a service charge for facilities such as upkeep of gardens, window cleaning and cleaning of communal area just as they do in any private apartment block and some also include all heating and lighting.    All the properties have facilities to call for emergency assistance either by a panic button or pull cord normally in every room and there is always a Court Manager on hand during the day to assist in anything from getting the doctor or ambulance to filling in forms and making sure all the residents obtain the appropriate level of care required for them.

All Housing Associations will be found on the internet showing what type of accommodation is available and where, facilities offered, whether there are any vacancies and the rent required.    It does take some considerable time to trawl through all the options as they are vast and  although you may find somewhere you wish to live, that particular property may be too small and may not have all the facilities you are looking for and of course there may not be any vacancies or a long waiting list, especially so in beautiful areas of the country.    So although there are pages of Housing Associations on the web it may be only one or two have the actual facilities you are happy with.    Some, for instance, do not have any garden, some do not allow pets and some are so small it would

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