More Families in More Apartments

I’ve posted about the issues for children and families in strata schemes before (see Families in Apartments) and there’s plenty of anecdotes about children and families living in strata (not all good).

But it seems that leading demographer, Bernand Salt, thinks it’s a trend that will continue and with positive outcomes.

In an article in the SMH Domain by Carolyn Boyd called ‘Gen X and Y families avoid the suburbs’, he’s reported as predicting a lifestyle move for young urban families looking for more appropriate strata apartments for them and their kids.  Some things the article identifies that make apartments more suitable include –

• A ground-floor unit with level access to the street to make it easier to get prams and young children in and out
• A secure communal garden young children can access — in view of the apartment
• A bath (or space to put one in) and an internal laundry or an opportunity to create one, perhaps by adding a front-loading machine to the bathroom
• Plenty of storage space, such as a linen press and built-in wardrobes. A separate storage unit can be a bonus
• Walking distance to parks and shops

It’s hard to see that he’s wrong but I believe the issues are much wider and complex for strata schemes, executives, managers and other stakeholders.

For instance, many strata scheme by-laws are kid unfriendly (prohibiting use of many common areas or only permitting use with adult supervision), the building itself is not designed to be used by smaller humans and the last 20 years migration into strata by older empty nesters mean that they crave quiet when kids are far from silent. 

Maybe schemes should have child play areas like sand pits, playground equipment, ball game courts, skate parks, video game galleries, movie theatres, etc which needs installing, supervising, maintaining and repairing.

Plus how do you deal with behaviour issues when it’s the children and not the owner/tenant and just imagine the level of owner/tenant animosity if disputes involved their children.

Maybe strata schemes and managers will need to engage family counsellors and child psychologists to help run schemes in the future.

See you, your kids and mine in strata scheme near you for Gymbaroo soon.

Francesco …