A Different Kind Of Housing Crisis

An article on Scoop.co.nz

We’re all too aware that houses in New Zealand are becoming more expensive and less affordable. Families are being priced out of their communities and first time buyers are struggling to get on the property ladder.

But dig a little deeper – the real issue with homes across the country, regardless of their price, size or location, is that they’re becoming less and less usable as we change and age as a population.

Lifemark™ are challenging everyone – homeowners, carers, new parents, the elderly – to think about how well a home suits their needs both now and when their circumstances change in the future.

By answering easy questions about a home, your Lifemark™ Homescore will tell you how easily someone could live in your home in a wheelchair, with an injury, if they become pregnant, or if their mobility lessens as they age.

Receive a high score and your house could be officially rated as a Lifemark™ certified home – the only rating in New Zealand to signal a house designed for life with space in the right place.

Lifemark™ homes are universally designed by accredited architects, builders, or developers to be easy and safe for any person to live, regardless of age or ability – both now and in the future.

A Lifemark™ home features design elements to ease use and increase safety, such as wider doorways, level-entry access, easy to reach drawers, wet-area showers or reinforcing to aid adaption if required in the future or if a wheelchair needs to be used.

So why add cost to an already expensive process by building a home that isn’t going to suit your needs as you change and age? We spend so much time in our homes, so let’s prepare them for every eventuality, every guest and every change – sooner rather than later.

See how a home scores on the Lifemark scale by trying the free Lifemark™ Homescore here.

To browse a range of Lifemark™ rated homes, view the Lifemark™ Case Studies.