GRANDPA’S LIVING IN THE BACKYARD!
The retirement trend that’s bringing families together—in a good way.
Remember The Waltons? John-Boy, his umpteen siblings, Ma, Pa, Grandma and Grandpa famously shared a rambling Depression farmhouse in TV Land. More recently, multiple generations have lived together on The Conners and
One Day at a Time. Turns out that extended family living has never really gone away. Today, a record 64 million Americans—one in five of us—live in a multigenerational home, according to the Pew Research Center. “We’re shifting from an age-segregated world to an age-integrated world,” says longevity expert Bill Thomas, M.D.
Necessity is partly the mother of this trend. Longer life spans mean sick, frail or disabled parents are moving in with their grown children (or vice versa). And the opioid and mental-health epidemics are contributing to an uptick in grandparents raising grandchildren. But there’s happiness and good health too. Beyond saving money or solving care problems, we learn from one another, pass on traditions and share health-inducing companionship.
That’s been the experience of Gary Peterson, 80, who now lives in the backyard of his daughter’s home.
Married for 54 years, Gary and Jeanne Peterson lived happily with horses and a dog on five acres in Weed, Calif. When Jeanne died in 2016, Gary, frail from a stroke and using a walker, knew he couldn’t stay on alone.
The answer lay across the country in Dubois, Pa., nearer to his daughter and son-in-law, Kimberly and Don Robertson. But where, exactly?
All in the same house felt too close for comfort. The basement needed too much work. So Peterson settled into an assisted-living highrise 20 miles away. Used to wide open spaces and being around people he knew, the former rancher found it lonely. So did his dog, Whitey.
“One day Gary asked if he could live in my fifth wheel [RV] in my yard,” Don Robertson says. “I worried someone would report me for locking up an old man in a trailer, so I checked with a friend in the Clearfield County Area Agency on Aging [CCAAA].”
The agency had a better idea: its very first ECHO cottage, short for Elder Cottage Housing Opportunity, a temporary home set up in the Robertsons’ backyard. They share utilities and an address. “Basically it’s umbilical-ed to my house,” Robertson says.
“The idea is that when a family is done with it, we move it to another family in need,” says Kathleen Gillespie, CCAAA’s CEO. The roughly $55,000 cost was paid for by state and county grants, part of a nationwide push to assist the growing number of older adults needing help. Peterson, who moved in last summer, pays a rent of 30 percent of his income, about $800 a month.
Gillespie’s even more excited that the next “backyard homes” for those on her waiting list will be a new kind of kit home called Minkas, designed to assemble quickly and affordably with hand tools from pre-fabbed components, almost Lego-style.
Japanese for "people's house," Minkas are a twist on the tiny house trend, but with age-friendly and open universal design.
Backyard homes aren't legal everywhere. The Robertsons had to apply for a special zoning change, for example. But the landscape is changing as more people push for affordable options, especially in pricey areas. In 2017, California led the nation in new permits for accessory dwelling units (ADUs), as they're formally known, with a 63 percent increase over the previous year. Hawaii, Tennessee, Washington, Illinois and Maryland also saw double-digit increases.
The best part, says Robertson, “Gary’s close by so we can help as he needs it.” The worst part? He laughs: “He uses my tools all the time.”
Peterson’s thumbs-up verdict on his new home: “This is a great way for family to take care of family.”