Chicago may start to feel a bit more like Paris in the years to come.
The change won’t come in the form of better food. Our clothes won’t be any more fashionable. But there will be a new emphasis here on creating the kind of senior-friendly neighborhoods so common in Europe. And that could be a big boost for seniors who want to stay in the Chicago area.
European cities seem to almost court their elder residents. Good transportation is readily available. Health care and services are close by. Seniors can participate in an assortment of rich cultural activities.
All these factors make city life attractive to seniors. Instead of moving to retirement enclaves as many Americans do, Europeans stay in their city apartments.
“In Europe, you notice a lot more elderly people on the streets,” said D. Garth Taylor, author of a recent study on retirement patterns. “The atmosphere just feels different there.”
Taylor spent several years studying the future needs of the huge wave of people nearing retirement age in the Chicago area. He believes the American cities that want to keep their elderly residents will adopt a more European model of retirement housing.
“This country needs huge swaths of senior-friendly areas that have the look and feel of older European cities,” said Taylor, executive director of the Metro Chicago Information Center, a sponsor of the research. “Our region will start to look and feel like many European cities, where the elderly are a more visible part of everyday life.”
The results of Taylor’s research are contained in a recently released study, “Some Like It Hot, Some Like It Cold, Most Like It Here.” The title of the study refers to one of its chief findings, namely, most seniors in the Chicago area don’t intend to move.
The study forecasts retirement trends in the Chicago area through 2020. It was spearheaded by Metro Chicago Information Center, a non-profit research and consulting organization that specializes in public policy issues. Roosevelt University’s Institute for Metropolitan Affairs helped with the analysis. The project was funded by Chicago-based Retirement Research Foundation.
First, the numbers.
– Over the next 20 years, the senior population will explode. The city of Chicago’s senior population is expected to grow by 34 percent. Suburban Cook County’s senior population will grow by 30 percent.
– The increase of senior citizens in the region’s five collar counties will be the most dramatic. There, the senior population will grow by 59 percent. McHenry County will probably have the biggest increase, 66 percent, followed by Kane and Will Counties, 60 percent, and Lake County, 58 percent. The senior population in DuPage County will grow by 56 percent.
– The number of seniors not living in designated senior housing will increase by 18 percent in the city, 22 percent in suburban Cook County and 58 percent in the collar counties.
– About 73 percent of seniors have no plans to move after retirement.
– About 64 percent of seniors surveyed intend to stay in the general housing market in their own neighborhood for the next five years.
“This is a wake-up call for the entire region,” said Taylor. “We’ve got to start planning ahead now because our seniors indicate that they want to stay here rather than move south.”
Senior-friendly communities and neighborhoods have several common features, the study found. Quality medical care is readily available and so is good transportation. Adequate housing and social services are plentiful. Recreation and cultural activities are accessible.
City planners face several challenges in the effort to create senior-friendly communities here.
Elderly residents of Chicago worry about their personal safety and crime, the study found. Seniors don’t want to stay in neighborhoods where they don’t feel safe.
Suburban residents, especially those in the far west suburbs, must deal with the critical issue of transportation. Many don’t have access to good public transportation.
“The study identified the transportation problem very clearly,” said James Lewis, director of the Institute for Metropolitan Affairs at Chicago’s Roosevelt University.
Lewis said possible solutions to these problems are emerging. The study indicates that the development of high-density housing near transportation hubs could help solve many senior housing problems. Seniors would be able to stay in the same community where they have lived for years. But by moving to a new apartment near the train station, they would also have access to more services and good transportation.
“The suburbs will have to undergo a culture change,” observed Lewis.
Many suburbs are not accustomed to allowing high-density housing. After all, people usually move to the suburbs to get away from the crowds. Also, suburban residents often fear that high-density housing opens the door to low-income development, according to Lewis. Even so, the transformation of suburban downtowns is already under way. Many of these redevelopment plans include apartments or condominiums aimed at empty-nesters and seniors who want to downsize from big houses. Wilmette and Arlington Heights are just two municipalities that have added downtown developments for older residents.
A more affluent senior population may also encourage more development near transportation hubs, the study indicates. About half of all future retirees will not experience a drop in income when they quit work. This group will have three sources of income: Social Security, personal savings and employer pension plans.
“You can see pockets of this affluence emerging now,” said Taylor.
He expects this wealthy group to grow substantially over the next 20 years.
So get ready to pop the cork on that French champagne.
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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
