By Rebecca Wiessmann
In this episode of Foresight TV, Steve sits down with Colin Milner, CEO of the International Council on Active Aging, to talk about what senior living could look like in 2036 — and what has to change if the industry wants to become a true platform for living better longer. You can watch the full conversation here.
Colin Milner has spent decades trying to change the way the world thinks about aging. His mission is simple, but not easy: help people live better longer.
That phrase matters.
Not just live longer.
Live better longer.
And that is where senior living has both a huge opportunity and a huge problem.
Senior living is already helping people live longer. Many residents move into communities after already reaching ages that previous generations might have envied. But the bigger question is whether communities are helping residents get more out of those years.
Colin believes senior living is uniquely positioned to become the real-world delivery system for longevity. But only if the industry shifts from being care-based, with some wellness sprinkled in, to wellness-based with care available when needed.
That distinction is everything.
Lifestyle or Decline Management?
Steve raises the question many people in senior living quietly wrestle with: Is senior living really a lifestyle choice, or is it still mostly a healthcare-decline management choice?
The industry loves to talk about lifestyle. And, in the best communities, that is real. But for too many older adults and their families, senior living still feels like the last option. The place you go when living at home no longer works.
That is a problem.
Colin does not argue that care is going away. It is not. People will always need support. They will always need help. They will always need care.
But the best communities will not define residents by decline.
They will ask a better question: What is still possible?
That is the heart of a wellness-based model. It does not turn its back on care. It changes the atmosphere around care. It changes how care is delivered. It changes the expectations that residents, families, and team members bring into the building.
A wellness-based community says, “You may need help, but you are still a whole person.”
The Community Of 2036
When Steve asks Colin what the perfect senior living community would look like for him, Colin starts not with the building, but with the experience.
That is telling.
He wants to walk onto the property and feel like he is entering a place that is home. Not institutional. Not sterile. Not a place where the unspoken message is, “This is where your life gets smaller.”
Home is not just the house someone leaves behind.
Home is where people feel safe. Heard. Connected. Stimulated. Motivated. Entertained. Supported.
For Colin, the future senior living community is a place where residents can stay healthy and well, where care is available if and when they need it, and where everyone in the community actually cares.
That sounds simple.
It is not.
It requires an identity shift.
Senior living has to stop trying to convince people that “this is just like home” while operating with rules, restrictions, and institutional habits that constantly remind them it is not.
Steve shares a story from Senior Living 100 about UK operators designing communities with as few rules as possible. The idea is provocative because life at home is not organized around a resident handbook. Of course, communities need structure. But the question is whether the rules serve residents or whether residents are forced to serve the rules.
That is a conversation worth having.
Less Exclusive, More Connected
One of the most interesting ideas in the conversation is the shift from exclusive senior-living campuses to more open, connected hubs.
Colin points to an affordable housing community in Singapore where resident apartments sit above communal spaces open to the broader community. There is therapy, daycare, an active aging hub, food options, and transit access nearby. It is not isolated from the world. It is woven into it.
That is a very different model from the gated, age-segregated campus.
And it may matter more as boomers age.
Steve says one of his biggest hesitations is that he does not want to live only with a bunch of old people. That may sound blunt, but it is honest. Many future residents will want connection with people their own age, but they will also want connection with children, grandchildren, families, workers, neighbors, and the broader community.
The next generation of senior living residents may not be looking for retreat.
They may be looking for belonging.
Build For The Grandkids Too
One of the most powerful ideas in the conversation is also one of the most practical: build amenities that attract grandchildren.
That should not be a radical concept.
Grandparents want their grandkids to visit. But visits are better when there is something for the grandkids to do. Bowling alleys, pools, pinball, flexible gathering spaces, places to eat, places to play — these are not just “extras.”
They are connection infrastructure.
Steve points out that many residents want more friendships and more relationships, but do not always know how to build them. A great community does not just offer a calendar of events. It makes connection easier.
That may be one of the biggest opportunities in senior living.
Design the environment so people naturally meet each other.
Design it so families want to come.
Design it so residents are not just housed, but connected.
Wellness Is Not Boot Camp
Steve admits what many residents and prospects might quietly fear: A wellness-focused senior living community can sound like boot camp.
More kale. More classes. More pressure. More people telling you what to do.
Colin pushes back hard on that idea.
Wellness is not about forcing residents into one prescribed version of health. It is about setting the table and allowing residents to choose what they want to eat.
That might mean walking alone.
It might mean a cycling class.
It might mean spiritual connection.
It might mean social engagement.
It might mean emotional support.
It might mean purpose.
Wellness is not one thing. It is the pathway to overall well-being. And if a community overprescribes it, it defeats the purpose.
That is a critical lesson.
The future of wellness in senior living is not about making everyone do the same thing. It is about creating an environment where each resident has more options, more support, and more opportunity to live in a way that matters to them.
Beware Of Wellness Washing
Colin also warns against “wellness washing.”
It is the senior living version of the hotel that advertises a state-of-the-art fitness center, only for guests to find a rusty treadmill in a tiny room beside the pool.
Wellness washing happens when communities use wellness language because it sounds good in marketing, but the actual experience does not match the promise.
That will not work.
Not with boomers.
Not with adult children who know how to research.
Not with a generation that has lived through decades of consumer choice and expects promises to be real.
A culture of wellness has to go deeper than the wellness director. It has to be understood by leadership, care teams, dining, sales, maintenance, housekeeping, programming, and everyone else who shapes the resident experience.
If only the top tier understands wellness, the community does not have a culture of wellness.
It has a brochure.
Wellness Is Good Business
Toward the end of the conversation, Steve asks the bottom-line question: Is wellness good for business?
Colin’s answer is yes — if it is done well.
Communities should be asking whether people are moving in because of wellness, staying because of wellness, improving because of wellness, and becoming more socially connected, physically active, emotionally supported, and satisfied because of the community experience.
That is measurable.
It affects occupancy.
It affects length of stay.
It affects resident satisfaction.
It affects family confidence.
And perhaps most importantly, it affects whether residents are actually living better, not just living longer.
Senior living has a chance to be something much bigger than a place people go when they need help.
It can become a platform for purpose, connection, health, autonomy, and belonging.
But that will only happen if the industry has the courage to stop selling lifestyle and start truly designing for it.
