NIC to Fund Middle Market Senior Housing Demand Study

This coverage of the 2017 National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care Spring Investment Forum is brought to you by Mainstreet. As the nation’s largest developer of transitional care properties, Mainstreet specializes in real estate development, value investments and health care. With Mainstreet’s support, SHN is bringing live event coverage of the NIC conference, which draws developers, providers and operators within the post-acute and preventative health care services space.

The National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care (NIC) has engaged a research group to commence a major study into the middle market for senior housing.

Details on the study will be made public in the coming weeks, NIC Founder and CEO Bob Kramer told conference attendees during the NIC Spring Investment Forum in San Diego on Thursday.

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“NIC is shortly going to be awarding a large grant to a large research organization, to do a major demand study,” Kramer said in addressing conference attendees. “This will be focusing on the middle market—those with income and assets that are too much to qualify for Medicaid, but that don’t make enough to be able to afford to live in our communities, at least for very long.”

Industry leaders have grappled in recent years with the “middle market” topic and opportunity, knowing there is a large portion of the senior population that can’t afford the average $4,000 per month price tag for private pay assisted living, but are too well off financially to qualify for affordable housing made possible through government aid.

Some senior housing developers have begun to pioneer senior housing products for this market by reducing upfront construction and development costs, though they say the savings passed along to residents are limited to around 10% to 20% and are still challenged by how to reduce the costs of assisted living care.

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Others have taken a more creative approach to the challenge, in touting solutions such as granny pods and creative financing. While there are ideas, however, there are few sustainable solutions to meet this growing market.

The NIC study will aim to gain specific knowledge on the market and the population it encompasses, Kramer said.

“[Senior housing] has a opportunity to serve this population, but first we have to understand: Who are they?” he said. “What is the demographic, the psychographic and the health and function of this population? We’ll be projecting it over the next 20 years. This is a demand study.”

Written by Elizabeth Ecker

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