REGISTRATION OPENS FOR AGING IN PLACE STUDENT DESIGN COMPETITION FOCUSING ON URBAN GROWTH SOLUTIONS
The National Center for Seniors Housing Research (NCSHR) recently announced the opening of registration for its fall 2002 design competition. The goal of Aging in Place: An Open Design Competition for Students is to solicit innovative ideas on smart-aging residential design in an urban setting. The program challenges students in schools of architecture, planning, building construction, and occupational therapy nationwide to design creative, buildable, and livable communities and homes that facilitate residents' ability to age in place.
The 2002 design challenge encourages students to address such urban issues as infill housing and smart growth. Students are required to design a community on a 10-acre urban site with transportation and other amenities in close proximity. Competition entries are expected to provide innovative new approaches to address problems facing today's urban communities.
Results from prior competitions have been examined by residential housing professionals, architects, home builders, and others. These experts agree that future generations of homeowners will benefit from this important competition. The NCSHR has also recently released Spotlight on Ideas, which showcases the best design features from the 2001 competition, to educate the public and the building industry on the competition's outstanding ideas. For more information go to http://www.nahbrc.org/awardsseniors.asp?CategoryID=1699.
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NEW ACTIVE ADULT COMMUNITIES COULD GENERATE $10 MILLION IN INCOME, SAYS NAHB
Spurred by the aging of the Baby Boomers, builders have taken interest in the impact of active adult housing. Specifically, builders are interested in the economic contributions of adult housing on local communities.
A recent study by NAHB found that an active adult community consisting of 100 single-family homes could generate more than $10 million in local income, $1 million in taxes and other revenues for local governments, and 216 jobs during the project's first year.
Assumed in the study were an average sales price of $180,000 per home and an average raw land cost of $22,700 for each lot. Also factored in were $4,805 in impact, permit and other fees to local governments, in addition to $1,980 in annual property taxes and $108 in monthly maintenance fees paid by the homeowner.
The demand for active adult communities is expected to grow as the over-55 population grows, according to NAHB. Active adult communities typically require buyers to be at least 55 years of age. For more information go to http://www.inman.com/InmanStories.asp?ID=31586&CatType=R.
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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE RESEARCHERS FOCUS ON HELPING SENIORS
Artificial intelligence researchers gathered this month to discuss solutions for older adults. The objective: to help seniors retain independence with artificial intelligence. "The fastest growing segment of society is also the neediest," said William Mann, principle investigator for the University of Florida's Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology for Successful Aging.
Researchers from the University of Florida are pursuing the idea of a "smart home" that incorporates sensors to monitor and track resident's behavior. The smart home is centered around a cell phone that can be used to open doors in the home, to remind the senior to eat or take medication, to keep track of medication and even order refills from the pharmacy. The product is still in development.
The University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Michigan have collaborated in developing "Pearl", a mobile robotic assistant for an elder with cognitive impairment. Pearl tracks the senior as they move around the home, notes which room they are in, and infers what it is they are doing. Pearl can also remind the senior to eat, drink, take medication and go to the bathroom.
There are still many hurdles to overcome. There are concerns over privacy and concerns of retrofitting existing homes with the technologies. And of course, there's always user acceptance. Attendees discussed different strategies for making the elderly more comfortable with technology such as computers.
The National Conference on Artificial Intelligence was held in Canada and hosted by the American Association of Artificial Intelligence. For more information go to http://www.thestar.com/ and search the archives using "researchers develop robots for the elderly". The full article must be purchased.
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POPULATION GROUPINGS REVEAL ECONOMIC, POLICY, POLITICAL TRAITS
Charles Schewe, professor of marketing at the University of Massachusetts and business consultant and author, says his research into seven generational cohorts living in the U.S. provides a powerful tool for business as well as social research and public policy analysis.
The concept of generational cohorts indicates that groups of people develop a different and distinct set of core values for their entire lifetime that are formed by so-called "coming-of-age experiences" between the ages of 17 and 23.
"We are all affected by the environment in which we became responsible economic adults, our coming-of-age years," Schewe says. "Companies can reflect these values in the products they offer and especially in the persuasive promotional campaigns they create. But the fun lies in understanding one's own motivational forces and in realizing that difference between age groups come from what they experienced as they morphed into adulthood."
Schewe explores the business implications of cohorts in a book he co-authored with Geoff Meredith called "Defining Markets-Defining Moments," (Wiley, 2002) and has written another book, "Managing by Defining Moments," (Wiley, 2002). For more information go to www.umass.edu/newsoffice/archive/2002/050602cohorts.htm.
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WORK BECOMES MORE APPEALING TO MANY SENIORS
The share of American men, 55 and older, and still working rose to 40.4% in July; the figure is the highest since January 1984, according to Labor Department figures. 28% for women is a record, and labor force participation among females over 65 jumped 6.5% in the last year alone.
"I don't know if I'll ever retire," said Estelle Granger, an accountant who spent 25 years in banking. Four years ago, at 53, she took early retirement and found herself bored. Six months later, she started a second career as an accountant where she averages 30 hours a week.
Besides boredom, other factors contribute to the record setting labor force participation of those over 55. The stock market slump is among them. Approximately 54% of Americans ages 55 to 64 have some of their retirement funds invested in the stock market, according to a September 2001 study by the Investment Company Institute.
The benefits of working longer abound. People beginning second careers prove that the economy is recovering, and the longer Americans keep working, the better for the Social Security Administration. This year's government forecast projects that the Social Security pension fund will run out of cash in 2043.
"If people would work until they're 70, we wouldn't have a Social Security crisis," said Richard Johnson a senior research associate at the Urban Institute. For more information go to http://www.latimes.com/.
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SINGLE, ELDERLY WOMEN IN RURAL AMERICA SUBJECT TO POVERTY, ISOLATION
Though senior citizens have attained higher levels of economic security since the 1960's, single, elderly women living in rural areas are increasingly susceptible to lives of poverty and isolation, according to an article in the Elder Law Journal.
The trend is most evident in rural areas where grown children tend to move away to find employment. Elderly women have endured major changes in living arrangements. In the past most older people lived with their grown children, but by 1990, two-thirds of those above age 64 lived alone.
Statistics show that the poverty rate for the rural elderly is 50% higher than for the elderly living in metropolitan areas. This relative poverty stems from a number of circumstances common to those in rural areas. Rural residents are more likely to have worked in agriculture or other industries with low pension coverage, and widowed or divorced women who seek to reenter the workforce find little opportunity. This problem is further compounded when driving becomes difficult. For more information go to http://www.eurekalert.org/ and search the archives using the words "single elderly women."
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NOT JUST THE YOUNG ARE LIVING TOGETHER
Vic Pelton is 73 and content to share his house keys and closet space with his girlfriend of nearly two decades. Pelton said he gets odd reactions when he tells people about the living arrangement. "With some people, their eyes widen after I tell them. A lot don't say anything, but a few ask, 'Why?'" said Pelton of Roseville, California.
The Census Bureau's Current Population Survey found that a number of households contain two unrelated adults, a man and woman, at least one of whom is 65 or older. They could be in a loving relationship or are simply friends. Reasons for cohabitating vary from bad experiences in previous marriages, or the desire to keep separate finances, though most simply desire to have a companion in their home.
"There aren't many trends where grandparents are imitating their grandchildren, but cohabitation is one of them," said Dorion Solot, co-founder of the Alternatives to Marriage Project, a Boston advocacy group. For more information go to http://www.chicagotribune.com and search the archives using "young living together". The full article must be purchased.
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LONGEVITY INCREASED BY POSITIVE SELF-PERCEPTIONS OF AGING
New studies have found that the self-perceptions of older individuals affect their longevity. Beginning in 1975 researchers from Yale University, lead by Dr. Becca Levy, followed a sample of 660 residents from a small Ohio town. The sample, of people 50 and older, was followed for approximately 23 years.
Those with the most positive attitudes survived an average of 22.6 years after the initial interview; those with negative views lived only 15 years. The 7.5-year increase in longevity remained even after age, gender, socioeconomic status, loneliness, and functional health were factored taken into account.
The study also found that the participants who showed positive aging perceptions demonstrated higher self-confidence and higher mathematical performance than those who held negative views. Older individuals, says Levy, who attribute decline in health to the inevitability of aging, may reinforce negative stereotypes and prevent their own successful aging. For more information go to http://www.reutershealth.com/.
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BID TO INCREASE MOBILE HOMES' RENT THREATENS RETIREE HAVENS
Residents of Sea Oaks Mobile Home Community, located in Los Osos, California, received notice this spring that the rent for their spaces would increase approximately 250% to $1,100, setting off an argument over rent control. According to the LA Times, this argument looms over mobile home parks throughout the state of California.
Manufactured Home Communities, a publicly held real estate investment trust and the largest owner of mobile home parks in the nation, claims it is only trying to protect its investments. The company claims that many mobile home owners are wealthy speculators who sell inexpensive mobile homes for exorbitant prices. Frustrated park owners have responded by increasing pressure to break through price restrictions.
The senior citizens in the community argue that they are unable to afford the rent increase on fixed incomes and that the increase is simply unfair. Manufactured Home Communities argues that land value is being transferred to tenants because tenants are selling rent control in perpetuity. For more information go to http://www.latimes.com/.
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NON-PROFIT RETIREMENT HOME BUILDER DENIED TAX-EXEMPT STATUS
For the first time the U.S. Internal Revenue Service has refused to grant tax-exempt status to non-profit companies set up to build retirement homes. The two non-profits, linked to Erickson Retirement Communities, planned to sell tax-free bonds to help fund a $3 billion expansion that would consist of 10 developments for senior citizens.
Recently, the IRS has begun to question the differential line between being a charitable endeavor and being a real estate deal. Builders say without government subsidies they can't afford to build facilities to accommodate the expanding U.S. retiree population.
Erickson had been operating under the provision that their links to non-profits allowed them to take advantage of tax-exempt financing for projects deemed to serve a public purpose, such as low-income housing, charter schools, hospitals and senior housing, but because tax-exempt bonds are a federal subsidy for state and local governments and non-profit companies, the IRS has said it considers their improper use a drain of the U.S. Treasury.
The IRS's decision won't stop Erickson's plans to expand the number of communities it operates or their affordability. "We build big so we can get serious economies of scale, and price our units for middle income Americans," Bernard Hirl, Erickson's chief financial officer said. The company targets middle class homeowners with incomes of $1,200 to $2,500 a month. "We want to be the Wal-Mart of housing for senior retirees," Hirl said. For more information go to http://www.bloomberg.com and search the archives using "Erickson denied tax-exempt financing". The full article must be purchased.
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