By Jack Cumming

Recently, Edna R. S. Alvarez, an 85-year-old retired attorney living in Los Angeles, wrote a letter to the editor of the Kaiser Family Foundation newsletter containing the following:

So, for me, as a “solo ager,” the key has been to take action. That said, I worry about the time when my body does not keep up with my mind. Actually, I would say my body has declined and my ability to take care of things required in my life. So, I have prepared food delivered. I hire people to help with my beloved succulent garden and with other chores — so far, young people in my neighborhood. I live in Los Angeles with famously poor public transportation. I use Uber as well as drive. So I wonder if I will be able to continue to find services that will support my living alone. And the real worry is the process of dying — not death — I do not worry about that. Recently, I have decided that I need to create an “intentional community,” which will be there when I need it. I am just beginning to think about how to do this.

This is the thought process of a prospective senior living customer. Senior housing providers need to go beyond believing they have the best solution to these dilemmas. They have to be able to meet prospects where they are and accompany them on their journey.

Focused Group

For the past year or so, I have been working with a group of prospects and residents who want senior living to rise to its potential. By way of full disclosure, Edna Alvarez is one of those group members. To be even more candid, the group members have helped me shape much of what I have published in trying to suggest forward-looking strategies to industry leaders.

There’s a lot to unpack in Ms. Alvarez’s plea.

  1. She wants to live alone; she’s not looking for congregate housing.
  2. She can take care of many of her needs with recent gig-economy advances; she doesn’t need the dining, transportation, housekeeping, and similar services that CCRCs and assisted living boast of.
  3. She retains much of what gives her life meaning, such as her succulent garden, by hiring needed help; she would otherwise have to give up that meaning to move to a CCRC or other congregate housing.

What Is Wanted

She details what she would like help with … namely, the process of dying. Although she doesn’t say so, that “process” might begin with a loss of sufficient discretion to preclude her managing the self-curated package of assistance on which she depends. She also would like a community of friends who would check on her and each other and respond to those of their number who likewise come to need help.

She calls that an “intentional community.” The Foundation for Intentional Community defines such communities as “a group of people who have chosen to live together or share resources on the basis of common values.” They add, “You may have heard of a commune, ecovillage, cohousing, coliving, or student coop. These are all types of intentional communities. Intentional communities model more cooperative, sustainable, and just ways of life.” Logically, though, there’s no need for the group “to live together” if they live within proximate contiguity of each other.

Standard CCRCs

The most visible offering to healthy agers concerned about what’s next is the standard CCRC, which offers three or four levels of care, ranging from independent living through skilled nursing. Meals, maintenance, housekeeping, and activities are typically bundled with residential living. There’s no fiduciary assurance.

We can ask ourselves, “How well does that offering match what people like Ms. Alvarez are looking for?” Without asking her directly, we can speculate that she wants to know that she will still be cared for and, ideally, cherished, even when she is dying and her care needs become nasty. That kind of assurance is hard to find nowadays.

Customer Wishes Are Business Opportunities

This unearths for our understanding a huge business opportunity that is being ignored. It’s most likely ignored because it requires an enterprise to maintain a high level of trust. Today’s emphasis on profit, growth, and executive compensation is not compatible with a credible commitment to trust. As Leo Durocher is purported to have said, “Nice guys finish last.”

Imagine the value that a business could engender if it responded to these popular wishes. It would have to demonstrate that it can be trusted for the lifetimes of its customers, guarantee financial soundness, preserve customer dignity and self-determination, be affordable and fairly priced, and more. Those qualities, and others like these, might appeal even to younger people. The potential is vast.