Living Well in Retirement

5 Ways to Age in Place

Communities nationwide are experimenting with housing options and services to help seniors live independently and stay in their own homes.

By Christopher J. Gearon, Contributing Editor, Kiplinger's Retirement Report

August 18, 2011

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was originally published in the June 2011 issue of Kiplinger's Retirement Report. To subscribe, click here.

It's the small things that can mean the difference between remaining in your home and having to move to a care facility. Perhaps you no longer drive and need a ride to a doctor's appointment. Or maybe you can use some help preparing meals. When you change a ceiling light bulb, are you afraid of falling from the step stool?

SEE ALSO: How Aging Imperils Your Finances

The recognition that assistance in everyday matters can go a long way to maintain a senior's independence has spawned what's become known as the "aging in place" movement. Communities nationwide are experimenting with new living options and services that are designed to help older individuals stay put as long as possible. "We think it's what people want, and we think ultimately it's less expensive than institutionalizing people," says Greg Case, director of home and community-based services for the U.S. Administration on Aging. We've reviewed five types of aging-in-place housing options.

It Takes a Village

If you want to stay in your house, perhaps you can help turn your neighborhood into a "village." Residents pay an annual membership fee to gain access to free and discounted services, such as handyman services, transportation, prepared meals and financial advisers. "It's citizen run, the essence of a grassroots movement," says Elinor Ginzler, vice-president of health at AARP.

The village concept began more than a decade ago in Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood. It has grown nationally to 56 villages with another 120 in development, says Candace Baldwin, co-director of the Village to Village Network, an information group. Each village differs slightly, as do annual membership dues, which range from $50 to $900 per individual.

Villages are usually started by neighborhood residents. In 2007, three older Chicago couples decided to create a village in their Lincoln Park neighborhood after seeing Beacon Hill's success. Lincoln Park Village opened for business in 2009, today counting 215 members age 50 and older.

Lincoln Park Village provides members with access to a full range of services and activities. Services include house watching, yard work, pickups and deliveries, pet sitting, and car rides to appointments. Volunteers and neighbors provide many services, but the village also has vetted a network of trusted providers, such as home-health services.

Dianne Campbell, the executive director of Lincoln Park Village (www.lincolnparkvillage.org), says she makes sure her members get their needs met with one phone call. "It doesn't take too much to be independent or safe," says Campbell, who is the only paid staffer. A board of directors and an advisory council, made up of members, make the decisions.

The village helped Estelle Spector, 81, make the transition to retirement last year when she left her position as an associate professor of theater. With the village, she says, "you meet people all the time." She has taken movement, water aerobics and art classes -- all for little or no cost -- through Lincoln Park Village. She's also involved in a village book club.

Spector turns to the village for help in caring for her ailing husband, a retired violinist. The couple has sought transportation, sidewalk shoveling, and leads on a handyman for the installation of shower grab bars and house painting. The couple pays $780 a year (individual memberships cost $540 a year).

The village offers classes in digital photography and sketching as well as trips to cultural events, such as theater outings. Spector praises the free experts, including one who spoke on understanding Medicare coverage. "I cannot tell you how that helped," she says.

If your neighborhood would like to start a village, go to the Web site of the Village to Village Network (www.vtvnetwork.org). Also, Beacon Hill Village (www.beaconhillvillage.org) sells a how-to manual on various aspects of creating a village, such as provider recruitment and setting up a board.

Mi Casa Es Su Casa

Senior home sharing is a living arrangement in which a senior provides an unrelated person a place to live. Each housemate has a private bedroom, and they share the kitchen and other common areas. Home sharing can defray housing or living costs, but it can also be a way for seniors to get help with chores, rides to the grocery story and other kinds of assistance. The housemate also can watch out for medical emergencies.

Retired engineer Joe Karnicky, 67, of Menlo Park, Cal., says he would be in a nursing facility if not for his home-share partner. Karnicky is confined to a wheelchair because of multiple sclerosis.

Every day for five years, José Puente, 69, has helped Karnicky get in and out of bed. Puente also helps around the house. In exchange, "José pays a substantially reduced rent," says Karnicky. Puente says he moved in with Karnicky because he was looking for companionship and lower-cost housing in the high-rent Menlo Park area. "We are very compatible," Puente says.

The best and safest way to find a home-share partner is to use one of about 70 home-share organizations nationwide. You can find a group at the Web site of the National Shared Housing Resource Center (www.nationalsharedhousing.org).

Karnicky and Puente were matched by HIP Housing, a nonprofit in San Mateo. The program provides seniors with an extra hand. "The high cost of home care can be challenging for many families," says HIP associate director Laura Fanucchi.

HIP Housing matches more than 300 people a year. "The program does a lot of the legwork for you," Karnicky says. HIP staff interviews home seekers and home providers, vets references and conducts background checks. After a placement, it regularly follows up with clients.

HIP house-sharers sign an agreement that covers rent and other money matters, as well as issues regarding cleanliness, visitors, pets, use of alcohol, quiet time, food and laundry. To protect against elder abuse, Fanucchi will not accept home providers who have memory impairment issues.

You've Got a Friend

Remember the communes of the 1960s? Cohousing is sort of an upscale version for the 21st century senior set. Individual homes, or apartments, are clustered around shared open space and a common house. Residents maintain their privacy in their own living spaces, but they can get together for weekly group dinners, socialize in comfy common rooms, and gather in courtyards or pedestrian pathways.

Cohousing communities in the U.S. number 124 in 26 states with another estimated 100 under way, according to the Cohousing Association of the United States (www.cohousing.org). Most cohousing developments are intergenerational, where seniors can babysit for youngsters, and younger families can run errands for older residents. But some communities are for elders only.

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