Golden Girls-Style Living Attracts Single Boomers

Golden Girls-style living in group homes, very much like a college dorm or even a fraternity or sorority, is proving attractive to older adults and especially baby boomers looking for a sense of community. 

More than 1 in every 3 boomers are unmarried, according to the Center for Family and Demographic Research. And as The Gerontological Society of America notes, a  disproportionate share of these unmarried boomers are women.

A small, but growing, movement of boomer women forming group houses with their single peers, reports a National Public Radio (NPR) blog post.

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One of these unique homes belongs to Bonnie Moore, a divorcee in her 60s who lives in Bowie, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C.

Moore, who lives with three other women close to her age, put an add on Cragislist that read: GOLDEN GIRLS HOUSE. 

The ad immediately caught the attention of Lorene Solivan, the youngest of Moore’s roommates, having just turned 60, notes NPR.

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To live with a group of people one’s own age is “a big plus,” Solivan told NPR, “whether you’re 20, 40 or 60—whatever the case may be.”

Moore said she intends to expand her concept. She already has a website and says she is working on a guide to help other single boomer women setup houses like hers.

An major obstacle continues to be denial among many boomers that they might not need help getting or paying for long-term care when they age. 

This obstacle is only magnified by a financial unpreparedness to hire a caregiver if they don’t have children or family nearby to care for them.

Creating a social network of people, not on the internet, but in real life is a crucial component to healthy aging, says Kathleen Kelly, who runs the Family Caregiver Alliance and the National Center on Caregiving in San Francisco.

For Moore, the decision to form her “Golden Girls House” was about more than just financial necessity.

“To come home and have someone say, ‘Hi, how was your day?’…That’s really nice sometimes,” said Moore. 

Read the NPR blog post.

Written by Jason Oliva