Anja Mandelkow, managing partner of LIST Develop Social GmbH & Co. KG, has published an article that strikes a chord.
Annual Conference on Housing and Care for the Elderly Source: Shutterstock
The starting point of her article, “Ending the ‘It Can’t Be Done’ Mantra: Why We Need to Think About Assisted Living from the End,” is that operators in the assisted living sector have been hearing the same phrase for years—“It can’t be done any cheaper.” Anja sees this phrase from a different perspective. Before joining LIST Develop Social, she worked for decades on the financing side. Her conclusion: This is not a law of nature. It is the result of outdated processes.
And it has consequences. Because 76% of senior households renting pay less than 500 euros in net rent excluding utilities—yet construction is often geared toward a target group that can afford double that amount or more. The supply and reality are worlds apart.
Anja does not see the cause in the construction itself, but in the sequence: Those who design first and calculate later lose cost control before the first shovel hits the ground. At LIST Develop Social, we turn that around. The target rent is established at the outset—as a binding guideline. Technical planning follows early on. And with our modular building system, developed in collaboration with specialists from the LIST ecosystem, we create cost-efficient buildings that fit the target group—not the other way around.
Affordable assisted living is not a utopia. It is a matter of attitude.
Link to the article: https://www.heuer-dialog.de/news/2140006449/schluss-mit-dem-geht-nicht-mantra-warum-wir-betreutes-wohnen-vom-ende-her-denken-muessen
