Senior housing moves from ‘alternative’ to ‘mainstream’

Senior living should not be referred to as “an alternative asset class” anymore, it’s now mainstream said Ron van Bloois, co-founder and chair of the Senior Housing and Healthcare Association (SHHA).

Van Bloois said there has been a turning point as investors are now trying to make an impact and that ESG is at the top of their minds, particularly social impact.

One trend is to empower seniors to live at home as long as possible in a later living environment. “We do see a lot of new concepts such as integrated retirement communities and co-living concepts,” he said. The increased momentum is interesting and the SHHA is increasing in power.

Van Bloois said that collaboration has become more important and that the energy crisis has highlighted that investors and operators should have more alignment.

He said that affordability is a key topic but in creating an affordable healthcare system it can be difficult to have a good business case both opco and propco sides of the equation.

Senior living, particularly is important and also offers opportunities for residential real estate investors trying to expand to senior living.