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Representatives of retirement village residents across the country have penned an open letter hitting back at criticism of the sector.
It comes after a critical opinion piece about retirement village living for Stuff by freelance journalist Janet Wilson.
The letter in this morning's Dominion Post and The Press newspapers was placed and facilitated by industry body, the Retirement Villages Association.
Association executive director John Collyns said the letter stressed that residents were happy with their choices.
"The residents themselves came to us and said what can we do - and we thought the letter was a good way of putting the case for the residents much more clearly."
"It basically gave them a megaphone to talk to the wider community and the country."
The letter said the residents "reject ill-informed commentary that risks undermining the way of life that we have chosen, and that we love".
Collyns said the letter was signed by retirement village residents' committee representatives that represented nearly 10,000 people.
He said the letter also included signatures from people involved with the Retirement Village Residents Association - a residents' group that has called for the Commerce Commission to investigate "unfair" clauses in contracts with villages.
"The retirement villages sector and our residents have been concerned for some time about the inaccurate and sometimes demeaning comments about retirement village living."