Remember . . . I am a champion of senior living and assisted living but I am intrigued by the co-housing movement and see opportunity for the industry.
Remember . . . I am a champion of senior living and assisted living but I am intrigued by the co-housing movement and see opportunity for the industry. . . but it could be a threat. Over the past several weeks there have been several articles about “non-traditional” or co-housing senior living arrangements, always referencing the Golden Girls TV show. Here are 4 examples all published during the month of July 2014: Retiring with roommates: The merits of shared living as you age Looking for a Housemate, Not a Mate, in Later Life Golden Girls: More seniors sharing homes for companionship, cost splitting Boomer roomies: Older Americans are seeking roommates The Benefits There are some downsides to these co-housing options, such as less private space, a lower level of services and less regulatory oversight. But it sill pretty easy to see why these non-traditional options already have legs and could see increasing momentum:
- They are more affordable for seniors with limited incomes.
- They make it more likely that a senior or groups of seniors can stay in their own neighborhood.
- To the extent that a senior can provide for their own needs in areas like cooking, cleaning, bathing and dressing, they can reduce the need for paid assistance.
- In a communal setting they can share workloads, again reducing costs.
- The living setting ends up looking more like and feeling more like the home or apartment they lived in prior to the new arrangement. While I think life enrichment programs are one of the big benefits of senior living, they don’t look very much like pre-senior living life.
In a very real sense this “new” co-housing movement is really a retro movement, in part mimicking the traditional small home board and care setting, still a healthy, though mostly ignored, part of the senior living ecosystem. It also has elements of old time boarding houses, where people rented rooms and received or purchased meals and other services and needed or desired. And then there is the multi-generational family model. Multigenerational Co-housing It used to be common to have multiple generations living under the same roof. I remember my great-grandparents living with my grandparents for years. I had many friends, growing up in small town Northern California, who lived in homes with parents and grandparents. It worked well. Grandparents contributed to household chores and it reduced costs for everyone. There was a passing of wisdom and family lore. In the past 50 or so years we have become much more obsessed with generational .privacy. Thiis has been a great opportunity for senior living. As elders need more assistance there is no room and no desire, often on both sides, to move them into the next generation’s home. I believe that moving back toward the more traditional model would be healthy for society and would provide many practical and economic benefits. I think we will see more multigenerational living within families. I also see a move in that direction for seniors who don’t have family: they can move in with families who are trying to afford the purchase of a home but overburdened with everyday expenses. Opportunity I have this vision of a senior living company creating hybrid housing models that are adjacent to more traditional senior living options. They would have the advantage of further spreading the costs of care staff and food service while providing seniors and families with lower cost, more flexible options. So what do you think? Steve
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Steve….
Great question…and there are many answers!
A whole lot of people want to stay in their communities and stay in their homes, but living alone is lonely! In addition, many of us were hurt by the recession. We lost equity in our homes, we lost our homes, we lost value in our 401K plans, we lost our jobs before we were ready to retire. Bunches and bunches of people, especially women, are living on social security and not much else. They can’t afford the assisted living facilities, or even the senior communities with rents being raised every year.
I found myself in a situation about six years ago, where my husband and I had just spent a huge amount of money remodeling our home, and then we split up. The recession hit and I lost the value of the remodeling, and couldn’t afford the mortgage any more, but I didn’t want to lose my wonderful home. I started looking for roommates and found friends. That is how Golden Girls Network got started!
I now have a website designed to connect older adults (over 40) with others interested in shared living. Most of the time, it is a single woman who has a home and she wants a roommate, or a single woman who is looking for a more economical way of living.
We call it the Golden Girls Lifestyle….and I’ve been doing it for six years…its great to have someone else in the house, someone to share a cup of coffee, someone to talk to at the end of the day.
Would love to give you a better perspective on this….call me at 301-875-3739. Bonnie Moore
P.S. Steve….The Golden Girls Lifestyle is more than a cute idea, it is definitely a movement.
I got a call yesterday from a documentary production company in L.A. They are considering doing a documentary about the new real golden girls….women who are moving in together and setting up shared homes.
I’m excited to see this happen. We are the women who came of age in the late 60’s and 70’s. We were affected by the Vietnam War, by feminism, by changes in the divorce laws that forced us to support ourselves, by the epidemic of middle-age divorce that is present in this country. We are the innovators who were willing to change the world when we are young, and we are still doing it!
This is an excellent article. I have been interested in affordable housing for seniors for a while and am meeting with a lady in a few days who is involved in co-housing in Ottawa, Canada. We have moved over 2700 seniors since 1996 and see people with lots of money and we also see people who don’t have enough money to live with dignity. Thank you for sharing. Judy
Excellent solution for that huge group of older adults finding themselves in the “twilight zone” between Section 8 housing and CCRCs. It is heartbreaking and frightening to interview people (and yes, they’re generally women, but not always) who want to move to our CCRC, are in rent controlled apartments with many stairs who financially don’t qualify. Imagine dragging your groceries up 3 flights of stairs, one bag at a time, not to mention the social isolation. We are giving a retirement living option seminar this month, and I am going to add this option. Yes, it takes adjustment which some of our very independent elders may balk against, but it really solves a serious dilemma.
Yes! Yes!
Like both Bonnie and Judy indicate, this movement is already in motion! And, it’s a fabulous and necessary alternative! No offense to Boomers (I’m a Gen X’er) – but, although you made Significantly more income than your parents (our current consumers) large proportions of Boomers don’t have the personal wealth to afford the current Living models we have. For various reasons, divorce, stock market losses, loss of jobs, under-employment , or even prolonged years of living Above your means….Whatever the reasons – those of us who’ve been paying attention for the last decade of this growing tsunami of folks descending on the industry…..knew that the next round of Elder Care Consumers – were coming in with less money, yet greater expectations for services. As a Dementia Care Solutions expert – I’ve been applauding the movement of smaller, home-like group homes that are starting to pop up. California calls them ‘six packs’ and we’re beginning to see them here in the Carolinas as well. These are the same concept as discussed in this article, yet for those with Dementia diagnosis. And, it’s a fabulous model for those clients – as smaller and more personal – is a wonderful prototype that supports their special needs.
Shared housing for seniors. I am in agreement with this. Caring for our elders as they age including giving them dignity & honor. AS elders age they become isolated from the community,withdraw & shut-in. Being in a community that confirms there belonging to the community gives us dignity & honor as care partners.
My uncle and aunt lived in Horseshoe Bend, Arkansas 30 years ago. When she died, the State arranged for a widow and my uncle to become a “couple” and live in his house. It was a wonderful arrangement for both of them. Keep in mind that this was 30 years ago!
I am curious Steve, your blog asks could co-housing be a threat but you only talk about the benefits. Here in Canada the only concerns I see is the threat that our seniors will maintain their money for longer (rather see it go to institutional living), get and be able to afford the support services they need, cost share the utilities in a home and the CARE, govern their own home, control all the decisions (along with their family members, loved ones and Power of Attorney’s), continue to receive the property tax benefit.
Our seniors buy an freehold undivided interest into the home and sell their interest in the home when they need to leave or pass. We do have some rentals but usually if you do the math a senior with a small amount of equity and a lower annual income will be better to maintain an equity position for longer if they are only paying a portion of the house costs and the costs associated with support services for daily living. We create a community in a home.
Renting a room in a house or home sharing is also a perfect solution however, the two biggest problems if there is not ongoing house management overseeing the home. The first problem is the potential for abuse (the landlord to the tenant or the tenant to the landlord) and secondly, the fear of drug abuse particularly if the home becomes multigenerational. Some drugs seniors are taking are worth hundreds of dollars on the street. We don’t want to think about these problems but, they are very real.
All our homes have the potential to be self managed by the co-owners and/or we do offer a management component and support services for daily living to ensure the overall safety of all members of the household.
Shared housing is simply the simplest solution for retirement living. For more information about what we do in Canada please don’t hesitate to give me a call or an email. 705-645-0007 [email protected]
It’s all about the people in your communities if you are looking outside of ALF’s. All the benefits exist but difficult to bring together the right types of communities to make these senior housing solutions work. Multi-generational co-housing sounds much better for early families with young children and less appealing to the elderly, however, the demands of facilitating a multi-generational home and the wide range in needs makes this a difficult housing option unless there is a strong common interest – such as family or ethnicity. Co-housing offers many of the benefits you describe, but makes communities highly dependent on the make-up of the individuals in the community and their willingness to work together and sometime share more in the co-housing demands as community members need more care and assistance / or no longer are interested in cooperating in the community.
There is a difference between co-housing and shared housing. Co-housing is definitely a group situation and usually involves purchasing an interest. Golden Girls Network supports shared housing which is when an individual is living alone and wants a roommate. Shared Housing is much easier to put in place…we have a database that helps mature adults connect to become roommates.
My friends (now most of us 55+) have discussed this since high school. There are about 15 of us women, along with spouses (if they have them) that have really given serious thought to this. We even know whose house we are going to use for it. My niece will be a nurse soon, and so will some of her friends. I’ve spoken with her about our idea and she thinks it sounds fun as well. So there is our nursing care. Since we are all children of the 70’s…it will be a rock n roll home for us!
I have worked in senior housing for 16+ years. If our idea doesn’t work out, I will move to senior housing in 30 years.
Affordable Assisted Living or Independent Living is the “next big thing” This is just the kind of idea (maybe adding on in AL or into a CCRC) group or small home.. priced cheaper, but shared…Village movement also going to be a part of this no doubt – Thanks- lots of food for thought and big ideas here
I agree with Bonnie; there is a difference between cohousing and “shared housing,” which is what you are discussing here. I am a gerontologist who has been researching the first elder-only cohousing communities to emerge in the U.S. While they have long been prevalent in some European countries, it has only been in the last decade that we have seen them here. It is not the same as simply being roommates in a house. Instead, people have their own homes but share some common space. If you would like to learn more about the concept, you can visit http://www.eldercohousing.info. With our fast growing and diverse older population, we will need many different options for living arrangements, including all of the above!!
Anne…I love the idea of co-housing! For some of us though, we don’t want to sell our homes or we have lost too much equity. Besides, we like living in them! Getting a roommate and doing shared housing is similar. Co-housing in miniature! Imagine an older woman who can’t climb a ladder and change a lightbulb or she is lonely living alone. She gets a slightly younger roommate and has someone to eat dinner with.
Imagine a family with an older parent. They can’t afford assisted living. Get a roommate and you have someone to be in the home with mom and who can call the family if something goes wrong.
Imagine a woman who is divorced or never married, still working, and is going through life alone. Maybe she has kids but they are far away. Living with a roommate in a nice neighborhood makes a whole lot of sense.
Hi Steve
A worthy topic for sure, but the “scare tactic” of asking whether it will be a threat is unnecessary! This will simply become one of many new models that broaden the market for senior housing rather than threaten it. Efforts have been way to try creating co-housing through an existing CCRC (that one didn’t work) and develop them from the grass roots which seems to be the most successful model. There is an interesting book on this subject by Charles (Chuck) Durette – “The Seniors Co-Housing Handbook, 2nd Edition”. And there is a national co-housing association. This is a model that has taken hold very slowly in the senior market, but who knows about its future.
Thanks for bringing up the subject.
Cohousing or group living is a fantastic idea for “seniors” and people of any age. But If you have no experience with intentional group living and just do it to save money you will probably be unhappy as an older adult. The answer is to start or join a group at a younger age if you like the idea. There are so many benefits and rewards. I’m in my 50’s and have lived in established groups for at least 7 years because it was more fun and interesting than living alone. I’m planning to do it again with people I know who enjoy this lifestyle, not a group of random strangers who can’t afford to live alone. I suggest to anyone interested to explore group living when you are young and can decide if you like it. Growing old alone doesn’t look pleasurable to me. I don’t think it’s a threat to the senior housing “industry” because most people in my generation grew up in nuclear families, have their own nuclear families or live alone and will have no idea where to begin by the time they are old and frail. Unfortunately this lifestyle is not widely practiced in the US so it’s hard to find like minded people or groups. You may have to create your own. Do it out of desire not need and you will have a better chance of success. In reality most adult children will put their parents in some kind of congregate living just to get them out of the way so they can continue living a nuclear lifestyle. I’m glad I have tools and friends to begin building my “village” well before I “need” it. There is money to be made teaching people how to live like this….
Denise…thank you for your great comments about the value of shared living. You do mention the need for an organized effort to find people who are interested in shared housing, and that effort is already under way. I have a new website called Golden Girls Network that is a national database for shared housing. I also teach a workshop called “How to Start a Golden Girls Home.” I’m beginning to meet women all over the country who are interested, both for financial and for companionship needs. Check us out!
I became aware of co-housing and inter-generational living after watching a PBS documentary. I love the communal concept of living where we each have our own private dwelling but come together for meals, maintenance parties, shared vetted contractor information and plain old socialization. I have been in the senior housing industry for 16 years and wholeheartedly support the idea of Assisted Livings for safety reasons as well as reducing isolation. I am no wheres near the AL average age so for now I’m more inclined to explore co-housing. I tell my 2 young adult kids every Christmas that some day in the far future I will splitting my time between their two houses when I’m too frail to live alone. Their initial response was, “Mom, don’t you get a discount where you work?” Gotta love ’em!