Solving the upcoming retirement housing crisis...Communes

[SoCalDem]

It's actually a great idea..Lots of Boomers fell in love with the communal living idea decades ago, but "life" intervened and they had to "grow up"..

With the horriffic expenses and conditions in nursing homes...and the horriffic shortages and conditions in affordable day care, it's almost inevitable that a compromise could be struck here, and all would benefit.

Especially when you consider that a lot of "nurse/teacher/social worker" boomers will be retiring soon..

Sure, lots of them will be flush with cash and want to leave their houses empty while they travel the world...for a while...BUT

there will come a time when they are no longer as capable of doing all those chores, or may just not want to..

there are millions of young families crammed into outrageously priced crackerbox apartments, juggling 3 or 4 low paid jobs just to pay the rent, daycare, gasoline, medical insurance..

Why not combine forces and play to each others' strengths?

There was a time ages ago, when extended families lived together and it was not unusual to have Aunts & Uncles, Grandparents, parents and young married people with a kid or two..all living in the same house.. of course houses were pretty big then, and people back then led very "chore-laden" lives , so extra hands were always welcome..

We may be approaching that situation again, but because of outrageous costs these days..

Iamgine this scenario:

Young couple heads off to work, and leaves the sleeping baby in the crib, because their "roommate", a retired nurse with diminished eyesight..(not blind, but no longer able to drive) is there to care for the baby while they work.. They come home to a cooked meal, and clean up afterwards..

The chores of the house are done by the younger ones, and the older co-habitant is "chauffered" to visit her friends and run her errands..

Life like this would have to be scheduled, but lives NOW are heavily scheduled anyway/./ the combined "household income" would mean that an older woman would not be in a nursing home, staring at the walls, and a young cpouple would not see half their income eaten away by child care and fast food ..

Lots of older folks lose purpose once they retire, and get depressed. Often they do not want to move in with family because they still want some independence. Co-habiting with people you are not related to allows for some independence.

For lots of people , shared housing is not necessary or even desired, but it could work for lots of people....

I would love such an arrangement as I age :)...Come on down.. we have 4 bedrooms, and we are too old and creaky to do yardwork:)

[MissWaverly]

1. shared resources are fine, I just want my own place

but a real community, where I could share my skills in return for help with grass cutting,
etc. would be fine with me.

[SoCalDem]

2. Duplexes or four-plexes or small houses on a quad

with a shared kitchen/laundry would work nicely..:)

[serryjw]

5. I posted a month ago

All the 'extended stay' hotels are going to be converted for the boomers retirement. With in 10 years most businesses will need to do little travel with technology.Central dining will be nice for companionship.

[MissWaverly]

19. Hey, I hear ya!

[Warpy]

3. Uh, there's a reason the extended family broke down

It was because living crammed together, multiple generations in a small space, made a lot of people crazy. It was hard enough when the family was bound by blood ties. Throw in strangers and it will really get stressful.

It's the same thing that broke a lot of communes apart, that and trying to figure out what to do about the greedy and the lazy (often the same people) while trying to remain open and freewheeling.

I think before you start planning the lives of older folks, you might want to ASK THEM. Many of them have raised their families, and while they enjoy seeing the grandchildren from time to time, they don't want to be put in a position of servitude to someone else's batch of children. As for the depression and loss of purpose, that happens to a minority and generally after the unexpected loss of a career or the loss of a spouse. Antidepressants are the answer there, not a stressful life crammed in with a young family.

This country is going to have to come to terms with the boomers, who one might be tempted to call the Robbed Generation since that's what happened to wages and pensions. The solution outlined in the OP may suit a minority, but is hardly the panacea that will be needed.

[Redstone]

4. Damn, Warpy, well-said, there. Contratian, and you'll probably take some

flak about it, but Jesus, you're right.

Thank you for being a voice of reason. If people ENJOYED living in communes, the communes would be a helluva lot more common than they are.

Redstone

[Cetacea]

16. Communes ARE popular.

And not just in the states. They are worldwide and take many shapes and forms, and many of them are quite successful. The proper descrption is "Alternative Living" and "Intentional Communities".

[Hardrada]

7. And people won't be all doing the same drugs

like they did circa 1969!! (Don't bogart that lipitor!) This idea might be better if it is more like a small village than a big shared housing unit.

[SoCalDem]

9. Found an article from the Times.. very much like what I envisioned

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D07E2DE133BF932A05752C0A963948260&sec=&pagewanted=print

January 31, 1985
FOR OLDER PEOPLE, COMMUNAL LIVING HAS ITS REWARDS
By MICHAEL DECOURCY HINDS

AFTER health and money problems, the biggest concern for many elderly Americans is housing. Several million older but physically fit people face the stark choice of struggling alone at home or moving into an institution of one kind or another. But a new form of housing for the elderly, called shared housing, has emerged in recent years as a way to provide a homelike alternative. Generally organized by social service agencies, these communal residences are usually single-family homes that are occupied by an average of five elderly people. They share meals and chores, but usually have help with heavy housework, laundry and house management.

Part-time social workers at many homes help new residents make the adjustment to shared living - which can be difficult for people accustomed to living alone or with families. Social workers also help relocate residents who need nursing care, since the communal houses do not have nursing or medical facilites, ''I went from retirement home to apartment and back again,'' said Rose Becker, 89 years old, who now lives with eight other elderly people in a Spanish-style stucco home near Los Angeles. ''The retirement home was terribly depressing,'' she said. ''As beautiful as it was, there were a lot of people and a lot of disease. You'd hear those sirens and the ambulances would come. And the apartment was so lonely. But here, I have people who care like a family. I couldn't ask for anything better.''

Up to 40 percent of the people who enter nursing homes do not need the nursing care but have no better alternative, according to Leo E. Baldwin, housing coordinator for the American Association of Retired Persons. After four to eight months, he added, it can be almost impossible for formerly independent people to leave the full- service nursing home environment. In a survey of shared houses for the elderly, residents in Boston, Memphis, Los Angeles, Ann Arbor, Mich., and Madison, Conn., reported that they are an attractive, inexpensive alternative to nursing homes, dormitory-style projects or living alone. The key is to help older people avoid living in institutions, said Dennis Day-Lower, adding, ''It's the most cost-effective and the most popular solution - polls have shown that.'' Mr. Day-Lower is executive director of the National Shared Housing Resource Center, a nonprofit organization in Philadelphia that is spearheading the development of shared residences around the country.

Mr. Baldwin, whose nationwide organization for retired people has 17 million members, quoted estimates that 3.5 million to 4.5 million of the nation's 29 million people over the age of 65 would benefit by shared living arrangements. In the last 10 years, more than 200 shared residences have been formed, primarily by churches and community groups for low-income elderly, ''because they are the most in need,'' said Mr. Day-Lower. In addition, about 150 nonprofit organizations have programs for matching elderly homeowners with compatible roommates. The United States Census Bureau estimates that there are 95,000 men and 158,000 women, or a total of 253,000 elderly people, who participate in some sort of shared living arrangement. By comparison, there are 1.4 million people in nursing homes. Mr. Day-Lower predicts that the number of programs will double during the next few years because many public and private agencies - as well as profit-motivated developers - are showing interest in the concept. In 1983 Congress directed the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development to permit Federal rent subsidies to be used for the first time in shared residences for the elderly.

''It's too cost effective to be ignored,'' said Mr. Day-Lower, who made the following comparisons: An apartment in a housing complex for the elderly averages $450 a month, compared with an average cost of $200 a month in a shared home. Nursing homes range in annual cost between $15,000 and $30,000 per person, compared with the annual per-person costs of $9,000 to $14,400 in shared residences that provide all meals, laundry and housekeeping services; or $6,000 to $7,200 in shared residences that provide some meals and housekeeping services; or $2,400 to $3,000 for shared residences that provide little or no service. The average shared residence has five members, primarily because local zoning regulations commonly use that figure for the maximum number of unrelated individuals permitted in a single-family house. Studies have found that elderly people preferred sharing a home with anywhere from 4 to 12 people and that they did not like having too many services provided - they liked to be in control of their lives, Mr. Day- Lower said.

Visits to five shared residences, which were selected for their diversity, suggest the reasons for their popularity. In Memphis, Code North, a nonprofit community development organization, used church and Government subsidies to open a shared house for seven low-income, elderly people. The residents pay $300 a month for a private room, all meals and laundry services. ''We are able to charge so little because we participate in the Memphis Food Bank, where we purchase food for 10 cents a pound,'' said Chiquita Brown, director of Code North.

snip...

Intergenerational shared houses are rare, but refreshing. A stately, four-story row house in Boston's Back Bay is home to 14 people, whose ages range from 2 to ''80-some,'' with most residents being over 55, according to Bradley J. Day, housing development coordinator for Boston Aging Concerns: Young and Old United Inc. A private nonprofit organization concerned with issues affecting the elderly, Boston Aging Concerns is the sponsor of the residence, called Shared Living House. ''We are very much interested in bridging the age gap and reducing age segregation in society,'' he said. Applicants to the house must have an income of less than $18,000 a year. Monthly charges range from $150 to $310, depending on the size of the room, and cover housing costs, breakfast and the services of two part-time advisers. Residents manage the house themselves, do all their own cooking, laundry and housekeeping. They also interview and select new housemates. Male applicants are especially well received, since Brian Lemere, a 25-year-old clerk who plans to enter a seminary next year, is currently the only man in the house. Residents meet formally once a week for dinner and to discuss the building's management, but they spend a lot of time together socially. Catherine Doyle, a 25-year-old college student, said: ''I love it here. My friends ask me, 'How is everybody in your beautiful house?' - they realize it is part of who I am.'' The group is currently writing guidelines to decide when a resident is too infirm to participate in house activities and must move to a place where nursing care is provided. ''We don't want it to turn into a home for sick little old ladies,'' said Christine Spurgeon, 69, who is a full-time dispatcher for the city's Senior Shuttle, a free transportation service for the elderly.

snip.....


Further information on shared living can be obtained from: Shared Housing Resource Center, 6344 Greene Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19144, 215-848-1220.

[SoCalDem]

8. Agreed.. it's not for everyone, but for those who would like to try it

I don't see a problem.. I am not talking about super-old, infirmed people who would be "worked to death"..

There are a LOT of older people who live alone and might just like some company.. a business arrangement would have to set the boundaries..

It could be just one of many accomodations as the largest generation marches toward the finish line :hi:

[pitohui]

15. warpy said it all

thanks!

[femmocrat]

6. Who would monitor these situations....

to make sure the elderly are not exploited? I think there are enough scams and con-artists out there preying on the elderly already. I would prefer to see better in-home care, nursing care, and assisted-living facilities, etc. Some of these places are dreadful.

[spag68]

13. communes

If it was some kind of tri or quadplex with shared kitchen etc. and I could keep my Vulcan, I would go for it. I'm 64pretty good pensions and ready to get out of NY. A plus would be location near or in a farming community.

[Ezra the Prankster]

10. Extended families as an economic unit

Despite some criticism to the original post that's fairly well reasoned within the scope of the latter 20th century, I should point out that the economic system laid out in the original post has been used all over the world for roughly 7 million years, and is still used in much of the world today. But unfortunately, the economic system that led to so much individual independance was made possible by the unsustainable use of material resources and widespread industrialization powered by fossil fuels. As the ability of the world to support the economy we've grown accustomed to wanes, we will have to adapt (or in this case, reinvent) new cultural values to deal with the changing situation. In this case, that means finding things that everyone can contribute to the mutual interests of their group (which may or may not be measured in dollars). That's called a tribal economy.

[SoCalDem]

11. It's highly likely that lots of us WILL have to "downsize"

our lives... The party is just about over:(

[Hardrada]

12. Back to the Nineteenth Century

and Mad Aunties up in the attic!

[pitohui]

14. well

i am not quite sure how being an unpaid babysitter and all-round slavey in my declining years counts as independence, it sounds quite miserable, just shoot me now thank you very much!

i agree people will be forced to share houses, as they already are by the housing shortage caused by hurricane katrina and rita, but it won't be freedom or independence, it is crammed together on top of each other and i'm already starting to see the infighting in some of these families, altho all do their best to keep in good spirits

[Tsiyu]

17. This is how people have made it for ages

but you have to enjoy being around other humans.

We like being the "rugged individuals" in the good ole US of A. Gotta prove something, always.

No interference, no burdens, light labor. An abundance of means to escape.


When times are good, humans have the luxury of surviving as lone wolves.

When times are bad, I notice that the families getting along best {or the groups of people getting along best) are those with a social network.

In the mountains, on a tract of land, you might have four generations living in various homes. Parents, kids, cousins will come and go, but there will always be some member of the family or a family friend tending the garden, bush-hogging, watching the kids, nursing the elderly. Resources are pooled, so people can eat, drive and have shelter at a lower cost than if they had to go it as individual households.

I tried to interest members of my family in the concept of pooling resources, but it's hard to choose a location everyone agrees on.

[porphyrian]

18. That's a great idea!

The biggest problem with nursing homes is that they are understaffed by underpaid people who don't really care. Most of the elderly who are put in them would last much longer in an environment where they were given things to do that actually matter surrounded by people that actually care. Do it, you damn hippies!
;)