Senior Citizen Housing Options

As a large segment of the American population moves into its senior years, the need for adequate housing rises. With increased medical requirements and decreased mobility, housing options must be flexible enough to provide a safe living environment. Premature admission into nursing homes exhausts personal savings as well as taxpayer-funded Medicare and Medicaid programs, so the trend is towards helping a senior stay out of a nursing home facility for as long as possible.

Types

• Various options exist for seniors who no longer feel comfortable living in a traditional home. Retirement communities offer single or multi-residence units, often with a common area for recreation. Many nursing homes feature assisted living arrangements with separate living quarters for seniors who need minimum care. In addition, they may offer special care units for dementia patients. In this way, residents can live with other residents that require a similar amount of care.

Features

• With the expected increase in retirees who need some help but do not qualify for assisted living status, nursing homes are expanding their options by offering independent living arrangements, often in the form of duplexes or triplexes, designed to meet changing mobility requirements. These units meet Americans with Disabilities (ADA) requirements. In addition, private independent living cooperatives are springing up, allowing seniors to purchase a unit that returns to the cooperative when the senior vacates.

Features

• Today, Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in cooperation with the National Council on Aging (NCOA), provides a variety of services to enable seniors to remain in their homes as long as possible. Two popular options include home remodeling and reverse mortgages. A reverse mortgage is a special contract where the homeowner sells his home to a lender but instead of receiving a lump sum, the lender pays the owner for the home in monthly installments. During this time, the owner may still live in the home. When the owner vacates the home, the lender will take possession and pay the remaining balance to the homeowner or to his estate.

Considerations

• The Housing and Community Facilities Program (HCFP) helps low income seniors find low-interest loans that allow them to live in suitable housing. Under HUD regulations, senior housing must meet ADA requirements before the property owner will receive subsidies for housing seniors. In addition, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides loans and community grants for the development of senior housing in rural areas (see Resources).

Potential

• With expanding home health initiatives, Meals on Wheels and other support programs that enable family caregivers to look after an elderly relative in her own home, fewer seniors are entering nursing homes until there is no other option. A HUD counselor is available in every state to speak with senior citizens and their families and help them find the services they need (see Resources).