New Zealand's aged care sector is at a tipping point. Demand for aged care services is expected to grow by more than 90% over the next two decades, while the system already shows signs of strain: bed shortages, services closing, and providers struggling with rising costs and workforce pressures.
The August 2026 A place to grow old report from the Aged Care Ministerial Advisory Group warns that demand for residential care beds will exceed supply in some areas within five years. The decisions being made now will shape whether older New Zealanders can access care where and when they need it.
So as the sector faces pressure to find more money, build more beds and attract more staff, another question is worth asking: where does the money already flowing through aged care go?
For more than 70 years, Enliven Central has taken a different approach. Our focus is care, with retirement villages helping to make that care possible. As a not-for-profit organisation, money generated through our care services and retirement village operations is reinvested back into our charitable purpose that maintains the care of our residents, and the upkeep of our buildings rather than being distributed away from the organisation to other interested parties. Our purpose is to care for all people at the most vulnerable times of their lives, to make a lasting and positive difference.
This purpose shapes how Enliven Central develops its services and communities. At a time when standard aged-care rooms have become increasingly rare, Enliven Central continues to provide both standard and premium rooms, with over 70% of our rooms being standard. This mix reflects a clear priority: providing care for the average older New Zealander. Research from Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission shows 40% of people aged 65 and over have virtually no income besides NZ Super, so our focus stays on accommodation the average older New Zealander can afford, not what can command a premium price. As New Zealand faces a growing shortage of aged residential care capacity, more beds will be needed, but so will choice about the type of accommodation available and where it's provided.
That is the model behind Enliven Central, part of Presbyterian Support Central (PSC), a registered charity and one of New Zealand's established not-for-profit health and social service providers.
Enliven Central operates 22 sites across the lower North Island, including nine retirement villages and 13 care homes. All proceeds from the sale of retirement villas and apartments are reinvested back into Enliven Central’s aged care facilities and services, while any spare funds support Family Works Central, our social services arm working with children, families and whānau.
This different formula creates a unique relationship with Enliven Central residents. "This is the best place to live in; I feel like I have come home," says Pauline, a resident at Kōwhainui Home in Whanganui.
This unique relationship carries through our retirement villages, "I like the way Enliven is set up as a not-for-profit organisation," says Kandahar village resident Trevor. "It tends to make things a bit more comfortable for me and was what I was looking for."
His mother was an Enliven resident in the early 2000s, and he’s watched his own village develop since moving in, from a Community Centre that's created more opportunities for residents to come together, to events organised by the Residents' Committee and by residents themselves. "It's been a highlight for me to see how the village has evolved since I came here," he says.
His experience points to something easy to overlook when aged care is discussed in terms of ‘beds, funding and capacity’: what happens to a person's sense of community when they need to move into a care setting. For Enliven Central, that connection shows up in its network of homes and villages across the lower North Island, giving older people the chance to age close to the community, surroundings, whānau and friends they've always known.
When an organisation’s drive and purpose is to push money back into residents' daily experience, it can mean investing in things beyond the basic requirements of running a care home: opportunities for connection and creativity, music and therapeutic activities, improvements to shared spaces, and initiatives that support choice, purpose and independence. It also means investing in the people that are providing the care.
Joy de Los Santos knows what that looks like. A registered nurse from the Philippines, Joy began working as a Healthcare Assistant at Kandahar Court in Masterton before colleagues and managers encouraged her to enter Enliven Central's training programmes. With mentoring and support, she progressed to Registered Nurse and now works as Clinical Coordinator at Enliven Central's Levin Home for War Veterans.
For Joy, the value of aged care is about more than a career pathway. On her first shift in Kandahar's dementia care home, when she was still finding her feet in a new country, a resident reached across the table and held her hand. "It's alright, dear. Everything will be alright," the resident told her. Joy says the moment deepened her compassion and has stayed with her throughout her career.
Her progression is an example of what investment in people can achieve: training and mentoring don't just benefit the employee; they build the experience and capability within a care home that our residents rely on.
"Not everyone is given the opportunity to care for some of the most vulnerable members of our community," she says. "It is a deeply meaningful role that allows you to make a genuine difference, while growing personally and professionally."
That reflects Enliven Central's wider approach, drawn from the Eden Alternative philosophy of care: not simply managing the ageing process, but supporting companionship, purpose, choice and connection. For residents, that means being known as individuals and being the very heart of our organisation. For staff, it means real opportunities to grow. And for the wider community, it means the funds generated through aged care services stay within the charitable purpose and intent.
Does that remove the financial challenges facing aged care and Enliven Central? No. Wider funding and workforce pressures need system-level solutions, which is exactly what the Ministerial Advisory Group has called for. But ownership and focus do shape what happens to money once it enters an organisation.
As a not-for-profit, Enliven Central has residents as its beneficiaries; any surplus goes back to our charitable purpose, supporting elders, the people who care for them, and the communities they live in that make New Zealand a very special place to live and grow old in.
For Enliven Central, the answer is people.
*Standard Room/Bed: A room in a residential care facility without additional features, for which residents are not charged additional fees beyond the standard public rate.