Senior Citizen Housing

▪ 1999

Introduction

by Willem van Vliet

      In the late 1990s more people than ever before were living longer lives in good health, and many older people were retaining much of their functional ability until late in life. Though accident or disease caused others to lose some of their capabilities, that loss was often temporary, and they later recovered. In response to market demands by more affluent elderly seeking active lifestyles, the private sector began producing age-restricted communities with a country-club ambience and a choice of leisure amenities. For a significant number of senior citizens, however, advancing age was associated with increasing physical frailty, cognitive impairment, and economic vulnerability, and they required appropriately supportive environments.

      Demographic trends in industrialized countries worldwide showed a strong increase in the populations of the elderly. About 17% of Sweden's population was aged 65 or older, and Japan's population was aging faster than that of any other country; its senior population was projected to reach a record level of about 24% by 2025. In 1996 in the United States, 12.7% of the population was at least 65 years old, but that percentage was expected to rise to 18.5% by 2025. The growth in the number of senior households would be especially strong among the oldest age groups. The projected number of people aged 85 and older would nearly double, which would result in significant implications for the design, planning, and management of housing and community environments.

Nursing Homes

      In the U.S. and in much of Europe, about 5% of the population 65 and older resided in nursing homes. A vast majority of these more than 17,000 facilities were federally certified in the U.S. for Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement and provided care to more than 1.7 million elderly, of whom more than 45% were 85 or older. Many nursing home residents suffered from chronic disabilities and serious functional limitations, and more than 80% needed assistance with more than three activities of daily living—bathing, dressing, walking, or eating.

      Expenditures for nursing homes in the U.S. had risen dramatically—from $1 billion in 1960 to about $75 billion in 1997—and more than one-third of the cost came from out-of-pocket payments by the residents and their families. Not only were nursing homes expensive, but their institutional character also stood in stark contrast to the residents' prior homes. The average nursing home had more than 100 beds and was part of a "chain," operating on a regional or national basis. National surveys found that most older people preferred aging-in-place in homelike environments. These preferences and the high costs of nursing homes helped produce a greater range of housing options for senior citizens.

Special Housing Options

      In the past, the options of many older households in need of more supportive housing were restricted to institutional environments, but a broader array of alternatives emerged. These new options provided varying combinations of services, care, and adapted design. The spectrum of available choices could be arranged to provide a transition from independence to more dependent living arrangements, with full-time skilled care.

      Among the former were accessory units—created in the space of single-family homes, with their own kitchen and bath and usually a separate entrance—and Elder Cottage Housing Opportunity (ECHO) housing, small and movable homes designed especially to accommodate frail and disabled people and placed temporarily in the yard of a family member's home. Both offered potentially social and economic benefits, including companionship, added income, reduced rent, security, and mutual help. More popular in Australia than the U.S., such units were often restricted by land-use regulations and were met with resistance from homeowners worried about a decline in property values in the neighbourhoods. Shared housing and single-room occupancy (SRO) units catered to low-income elderly and provided minimal levels of support. In congregate housing, living units often had special design features, including the absence of thresholds between rooms, and communal areas for social activities and meals. They housed older persons whose incomes precluded more costly options such as age-restricted retirement communities, assisted living facilities (ALFs), or continuing care retirement communities, where an array of services was available against user-cost or on a for-profit basis.

      In the U.S. ALFs increased rapidly to about 25,000 nationwide, and they became an annual $15 billion industry. An estimated 700,000 residents occupied independent living units and were able to take advantage of help tailored to their specific and changing needs, regarding housekeeping, laundry, bathing, and dressing. Costs for ALFs averaged $2,200 per month in 1996, and new ALFs charged as much as $4,000 and $7,000, including meals. Nursing homes received about 60% of their revenue from the government, but 90% of the costs of assisted living was borne by the residents and their families. Regulatory oversight by the government was still minimal, although changes were under way.

Aging in Place

      Housing provisions for senior citizens that facilitated aging in place were fast gaining in popularity. On the positive side, they did not disrupt long-established local social-support networks and allowed people to grow older in the familiar environment to which they had grown attached.

      Programs promoting aging in place tended to be of two types. The first focused on architectural adaptations, technological innovations, and home automation. Many countries had developed guidelines for universal design and adaptable housing that could be easily modified in response to the changing needs of the occupants. Such guidelines might specify minimum door width to accommodate wheelchairs, provisions for attaching grab bars on a bathroom wall, or instructions for installing a chairlift. The second program provided supportive services available in or near the home, including help with shopping, housekeeping, and personal and health care needs.

      Addressing the future housing needs of the elderly, however, would become increasingly challenging, owing to seniors' reliance on low, fixed incomes, the increasing cost of housing, and the loss of SRO units.

Willem van Vliet is a professor at the College of Architecture and Design of the University of Colorado at Boulder.

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