Practical small home solutions

When I attended the recent National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care conference in Chicago, I was fascinated to see these experienced seniors housing investors and developers showing an intense interest in a new market for them: the so-called “middle market.” They’re used to developing housing projects serving seniors who are relatively wealthy (often from home sales) or who are low-income enough to qualify for Medicaid-financed long-term care. Now, spearheaded by NIC’s founder and long-time leader Robert G. Kramer, they’re recognizing that most seniors fall in the middle but need senior housing options too.

But these financiers also feel perplexed. They look for returns on their investments and projects, but wonder about these and question how to develop and market this sort of housing. What model will work? How can they inspire community planners’ interest in an approach that sometimes conflicts with existing zoning? And, for that matter, how can they get aging seniors and their families interested? Also, the bottom line: how can they make money on these more modestly priced structures?

As luck would have it, as I was walking along a corridor between sessions, I found myself suddenly buttonholed by a developer who eagerly told me his company is working on the answers to these questions and more. Brian Deamer, along with his partners Peter Beukema and physical therapist George Pasteur, working under the company name Andersen Price Lifestyles, are collaborating closely with planning officials in Fairfax County (Virginia) and Montgomery County (Maryland) to create a middle market solution that works for everyone.

“It’s basically a bed-and-breakfast model,” Deamer explains. “Each building will have six or seven 750 square-foot apartments, each including a living room and a bath-and-a-half, with attractive common areas for socializing, gardens, front porches and guest apartments for relatives’ overnight stays. Services of all kinds will be unbundled, that is, brought in ala carte, provided and paid for as needed. The new structures would be located in or close to seniors’ home neighborhoods and so maintain convenient access to food stores and other shopping.”

A simple-sounding neighborhood-based structure, but one with profound implications on many levels:

1) The structure blends in much more easily with a residential community than the typical senior care and housing facility that often incites “not in my back yard” reactions.

2) It’s a rental model, meaning that, rather than spending small fortunes on entry fees and high-end rentals, seniors are able to keep the proceeds of their home sales and spend, on average, $2,000-3,000 a month for rent (moderate in those two counties), along with additional funds for services delivered only as needed.

3) These structures will allow seniors to stay in or very close to their home communities, preserving contact with relatives, neighbors, friends and stores.

But there are still more potential advantages. Deamer, Beukema and Dr. Pasteur propose to build these projects using many of the latest concepts in home construction:

1) Hidden but readily available “universal design” features that make living spaces readily adaptable to aging in place, including bathroom grab bar anchors and height-adjusted kitchen counters which come into play only when seniors need them.

2) So-called green design elements—including, if possible, environmentally sensitive features such as solar power, efficient HVAC control and water conservation.

3) Supportive technology using electronic sensors for unobtrusive motion surveillance, voice-activation and lighting control.

4) Modular construction, assembling structural parts and utility packages in factories and shipping the finished structures to building sites rather than building them on-site—potentially a huge money-saver that helps preserve capital returns for developers and investors. Peter Beukema notes he has a half-dozen modular designs available that he says will scale up quickly and be readily adaptable.

Putting it all together, it’s an attractive and affordable alternative to upscale senior communities and facilities that cost so much. Ideally, says Deamer, seniors will consider leaving their homes earlier than they anticipated, in the process avoiding the growing isolation that comes with aging in place. “Our partner, Dr. Pasteur, has said that, from his physical therapy practice experience, he knows that isolation is a serious medical problem in itself,” says Deamer. “This model reduces the chances of that happening.”

Andersen Price Lifestyles is still two or three years away from realizing the complete vision. Deamer says the challenge right now is to educate community officials and spread the word to neighboring communities who might support the concept. “After watching my dad’s development work, I know it’s better to work with community planners now rather than asking them to adapt to something we’ve already done. And, as he always said, the more people involved in understanding the situation, the faster things get done.”

For starters, the partners are offering a test concept of mixed use housing, using existing acre and half-acre commercial properties allowing senior apartments to be located above various retail establishments and medical service providers. “Community planners have shown considerable interest in this initial approach, which in many cases won’t require zoning changes,” says Beukema. “This will establish the idea of allowing seniors the dignity of choice while continuing to live in their home communities.”

Small home experimentation like this is in fact happening around the country. For anyone who feels daunted by the questions and obstacles posed by small homes for aging (discussed in What will it take?), it can now be confidently stated that practical and experienced developers like Andersen Price Lifestyles are taking a serious shot at the solutions.