Senior citizens in Rolling Meadows who no longer can take care of their homes but still want to live in the suburb have scant options for finding affordable housing in the community.
They languish on waiting lists for housing in other suburbs or move away, leaving friends, relatives and familiarity behind.
To begin addressing the problem, Rolling Meadows officials are expected to support a plan to renovate a three-story motel. A developer wants to convert the building into apartments for the elderly.
While some officials acknowledge that rents for each unit are a little pricey–as high as $1,500 a month–most support the project because it would bring housing for independent senior citizens into a community where it is in short supply.
“I like the concept; it’s valid,” said Mayor Thomas Menzel. “It meets a certain need in the senior citizen community, and that is having an apartment complex where a lot of the basic needs are taken care of.”
City officials acknowledge Rolling Meadows has few units of housing for seniors, affordable or otherwise.
A group of volunteers, called Rolling Meadows Tomorrow, is studying the problem and is expected to deliver a report by mid-December.
Meanwhile, the city’s Plan Commission recently approved a zoning change that would allow the Golden Age Retirement home to transform the Comfort Inn, 2801 Algonquin Rd., into rental units. The measure now goes before the City Council.
The project calls for converting the motel into an assisted-living facility with 95 housing units.
The units will rent for between $1,400 and $1,500 a month and will include three meals each day. Biweekly maid service and all utilities, except phone service, also will be included.
Residents will have access to `round-the-clock staff and regular group activities, said Damir Missbrenner, developer of the project and operator of the Golden Age Retirement Home in Lyons.
“I don’t think there’s a question that we need additional senior citizens’ housing opportunities,” said City Manager Bill Barlow. “To be frank, I don’t know if $1,400 or $1,500 a month is in the budget of a lot of seniors.”
Golden Age will model its Rolling Meadows facility on its original building in Lyons.
To qualify for residency, applicants must be at least 62 and be able to live independently. Individuals would rent a fully furnished apartment with a private bath.
Each floor will have a lounge and kitchen area to complement a main-floor lounge and dining room. Transportation to area shopping centers will be available.
Donna Thomas, executive director of the Northwest Housing Partnership, said the need for affordable senior housing in the northwest suburbs is acute and getting greater as the population ages.
Only five facilities in the area offer affordable housing for seniors. But each has a waiting list of seven or eight years, Thomas said.
A 1996 housing study by Schaumburg-based Strategy Planning Associates found that Rolling Meadows and communities within a two-mile radius have 18,765 households that are headed by people older than 55.
The planning group estimates that more than 4,000 people would be interested in senior housing in the northwest suburbs. About 1,000 of them could only afford $375 a month.
The need for senior housing has been growing as the suburban population ages. By 2010, one in five suburban residents of Cook County will be over age 60, according to the Suburban Area Agency on Aging.
