New generation of senior housing makes ‘elderly islands’ obsolete
LOS ANGELES — Recently retired, Pam Watkins wanted a new lifestyle.
The former school principal saw her neighborhood “turning over,” increasingly populated with young families busy with kids or work. She wanted more people her own age to “play with” but didn’t want to live in a “graveyardish” retirement community.
So last year, the Los Angeles-area resident and her husband moved into a $770,000 house in Rancho Mission Viejo, a new, large, master-planned community in Orange County with neighborhoods for seniors as well as those of all ages.
There are community spaces for everyone, but also a seniors-only clubhouse with lounge, fitness center and a resort-style saltwater pool and spa.
“We like seeing kids,” the 63-year-old said. “I don’t necessary want them in my pool jumping on me.”
Developers are increasingly building such “multi-generational” communities, lured by the massive baby boomer population aging into retirement. In doing so, they’re targeting people 55 and older, such as Watkins, who want to live near but not too close to families and kids.
Like senior developments around farther-out Palm Springs, the communities are built for “active adults” who get around just fine and might even still be working.
In Southern California, builders were selling homes in 28 active-adult neighborhoods at the end of the first quarter, compared with 15 two years earlier, according to research firm Metrostudy.
More than a third of those were in “multi-generational” developments, compared with just 20 percent in 2015.
The investments mirror a larger senior housing boom, as companies provide the demographic with a range of housing tailored to their needs — from those who require no help to those who need a significant amount.
In 2015, developers across the country started 37,000 age-restricted homes, a category that includes many assistedliving facilities that provide help with health care, transportation and meals, according to the latest analysis of census data from the National Association of Home Builders.
That’s down from the previous two years but up sharply from 17,000 in 2009 when the Census Bureau first collected the data and the recession had decimated the housing industry.
By 2024, households age 55 and older will make up 44.5 percent of the U.S. population, compared with 42.8 percent this year, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
Developers are particularly bullish on multi-generational communities, which provide senior-only neighborhoods in an otherwise family-oriented master plan.
A relatively new way to provide senior housing, they are often located in metropolitan areas rather than farflung resort towns, said Andrew Carle, founding director of the Program in Senior Housing Administration at George Mason University.