Today’s active adult communities are catering to a new class of older Americans who are healthy, financially secure and very social. They also may or may not be retired and they are definitely not interested in shuffleboard.
These are some of the observations from a panel of experts on senior housing assembled at the Urban Land Institute’s annual meeting held in Chicago in November.
“The increased demand for housing from Baby Boomers will not be for the same type of housing that has been produced up until now,” said Gregg T. Logan, managing director, Robert Charles Lesser and Co., Atlanta.
According to statistics provided by Logan, the large number of people heading toward retirement indicates a clear need for more adult communities. The number of people now in their mid-50s (about 76 million) has more than doubled from one generation ago.
Unlike their parents, who saved money in the bank and were cautious about making major purchases, Baby Boomers have a lot of money in the stock market. Many Boomers don’t necessarily plan to retire and they may have young children from second marriages.
The different housing needs and lifestyles of Baby Boomers have made communities centered solely around golf courses obsolete, said Jason Robertson, vice president of Avatar Properties Inc. in Miami.
Older adults nowadays want fully equipped fitness centers, indoor lap pools, jogging tracks, restaurants and informal socializing areas, he said. In addition, Boomers want floor plans with less defined space to allow for highly flexible use.
Those who need additional help may find themselves seeking an assisted living facility. Such centers provide help with personal needs, such as meals, bathing and housekeeping. Some resemble upscale hotels or apartment houses, complete with fancy meals, exercise equipment and make-your-own-sundae bars.
Recent retirees tend to be more unpredictable in their housing needs than past generations. The demand will increase for more variety in adult communities, according to David Schreiner, senior vice president of Del Webb Corp., which is building homes in far northwest suburban Huntley.
Del Webb, for instance, likely will start building smaller communities in more locations, partly in response to a desire by more adults to retire in the place where they have lived and to be near their children, Schreiner noted.
A large transfer of wealth (by some estimates, $3.4 trillion) will be passed to Boomers in the next decade, which will likely result in the purchase of multiple homes in various adult communities, said Kathleen B. Cecilian, president of K.C. and Associates, Flemington, N.J.
“There is nothing homogeneous about today’s market. Retirees are looking for a comfort zone, whether it’s downtown, a college town, a hometown, a country town or a sun town. They crave a sense of community, and they want to be near family and friends,” she said.
Retiring types may regret it
While developers sort out what kind of housing retirees want, a new report suggests that older people shouldn’t be thinking about retiring at all. Retirement is bad for a person’s mental and physical health. Enforced retirement is bad social policy, too.
Americans who retire early, and a large number of those who retire at 65, will spend a quarter of their lives in retirement, said a study from the International Longevity Center-USA in New York.
“Twenty or 25 years of retirement may sound pretty good to people who have worked hard all their lives, but whether it’s good for their health, or the health of the nation, is another matter,” said Dr. Robert N. Butler, president of the longevity center and co-editor of the report.
“Most older people would be better off physically, mentally and financially if they could stay in the game a few more years instead of sitting on the bench for the last quarter of their lives.”
The expansion of the retirement years has been caused by increased longevity. People live longer now, extending the inactive phase of their lives. Also, a dramatic rise in per capita income has allowed people to spend a greater length of time in retirement.
In 1987, food, clothing and shelter consumed 75 percent of a person’s pre-retirement income in the United States. In 1994, these necessities accounted for less than 20 percent, according to report contributor Robert Fogel, a professor at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.
The report also suggests that misguided social policies have steered seniors into unproductive and often sedentary leisure activities. The report questions how many healthy men and women would retire as early as they do if government and business didn’t provide so many disincentives to continue working.
A step toward changing these policies was taken last April when Congress eliminated the “earnings test,” which reduced Social Security benefits for workers ages 65 to 70 by $1 for every $3 they earn over $17,000.
“It was a start,” said Butler. “But there’s a lot more for the government and the business sector to do to remove the barriers they’ve put in the way of older people who want to continue working.”
Resources
– Volunteers are needed at Rainbow Hospice in Park Ridge to help those facing end-of-life care issues and concerns. Volunteers complete a minimum of 20 hours of specialized training before working directly with patients and families. Nationally, about 100,000 people serve as hospice volunteers. For more information about hospice volunteering, contact Jenny Swerlik, volunteer coordinator, at 847-692-8889.
– If you have questions about in-home or community-based services available to older adults and family caregivers, call the Illinois Department on Aging Senior HelpLine at 1-800-252-8966.
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Jane Adler is a Chicago-area freelance writer. If you have questions or information to share regarding housing for senior citizens, write to Senior Housing c/o Chicago Tribune Real Estate Section, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611. Or e-mail adler@corecomm.net
