In one of the more catchy domain names for senior living in recent memory, www.makewayformom.com, provides a very memorable web address for Home Instead Senior Care (“Home Instead”).  Home Instead recently released a survey that showed 43 percent of adult caregivers in the U.S. ages 35 to 62 live with the parent, stepparent or older relative for whom they or someone else in their household provides care. According to the Home Safety Council, which observes Home Safety Month in June, falls are among the leading causes of home injuries.

"What’s more, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons reports that one in every three Americans older than 65 experiences a fall, making it the leading cause of injuries to seniors," said Home Instead Senior Care Co-Founder and CEO Paul Hogan. "So that’s a notable statistic for anyone who is living with a senior loved one."

Home Instead recommends making these modifications (or at least considering them) before “making way for mama”:

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By Design Solutions, a company that provides marketing and management services to the senior housing industry, recently announced the launch of its Online Sales Tools.  The marketing solution, designed exclusively for budget-conscious retirement communities, provides professionally produced marketing materials through a low-cost monthly subscription service.  A subscriber has the opportunity to get exclusive rights to use the materials in their geographic area and the tools allow customization to show each community’s key selling points, logos and contact information.  The pre-packaged materials include fact sheets, creative marketing pieces for follow-up communication and materials for initiating cost effective sales campaigns.

"In today’s economy, many retirement communities simply cannot afford the cost of retaining a marketing firm," said Kristin Kutac Ward, President of By Design Solutions. "With Online Sales Tools, they can still enjoy the advantages of high-quality, strategic marketing materials at an affordable cost."

Devries Place Senior Apartments was recognized by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) as a 2009 Awards For Excellence:  The Americas winner for its efforts on land planning use, design and sustainability.  The 103 unit rental apartment homes located in Milpitas, California, near the southern end of San Francisco Bay, provides housing and amenities for low and very low-income seniors age 62+.  Part of the funding for the project was completed by NEF which invested $15 million in equity in the project through a fund capitalized by Fannie Mae.

“We are extremely proud to have DeVries Place recognized by ULI as a model for best-practices in land use planning, design, sustainability and smart growth,” said Matthew O. Franklin, President of Mid-Peninsula Housing.  “Through a visionary partnership with the City of Milpitas, we intentionally designed and developed an affordable, environmentally-friendly, pedestrian-oriented community to help transform the Milpitas downtown area. It is wonderful that this innovative collaboration and development has been honored.”

Nobility Homes, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOBH) announced sales and earnings results for its second quarter earlier this week that show sales for the second quarter of 2009 were $2,388,817 as compared to $8,700,899 recorded in second quarter of 2008. Loss from operations for the second quarter of 2009 was $884,242 and the company showed a $121,126 non-cash loss for its investment in two retirement community limited partnerships.  Nobility Homes  is in the business of designing and producing quality, affordable manufactured homes at its one plant located in central Florida and has investments in two new affordable retirement manufactured home communities in Florida.  The comments from Terry Trexler, President of Nobility Homes, don’t paint a pretty picture for the near-term outlook for affordable housing solutions for seniors in Florida but provide an sunny forecast for the long term Florida market as noted below:

"Sales and operations for the second quarter of 2009, were adversely impacted by our country’s severe economic uncertainty and the reduced manufactured housing shipments in Florida, plus the overall decline in Florida and the nation’s housing market. Industry shipments in Florida for the period of November 2008 through April 2009 were down approximately 61% from the same period last year. Fiscal year 2009 is Nobility’s 42nd year of operating in our market area and is proving to be our most challenging. Lack of retail and wholesale financing, increasing unemployment and home foreclosures, slow sales of existing site-built homes, very low consumer confidence and a poor economic outlook for the U.S. economy are just a few of the challenges facing our country, our industry, and Nobility.”

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It is no secret that many developers are falling short in the sales of their condos and either considering renting those units out or restructuring the whole building / project into an apartment complex.  An article in Finance and Commerce, highlights a 61-unit senior condo project was completed in 2006 called Two Rivers Condominiums that is being transformed into an 81-units senior apartment project. The original project sold five of the condominium units but struggled to find buyers for the other units for almost 2 years.  The article talks about the re-purchase of the initial units that were originally sold by the new investor and the challenges the new investor faced when trying to obtain financing for the purchase of the facility.  For more information on the reconstitution of this senior condo project, click here.

The U.S. Census Bureau released a report earlier this week that shows that the world’s 65-and-older population is projected to triple by midcentury, from 516 million in 2009 to 1.53 billion in 2050. In contrast, the population under 15 is expected to increase by only 6 percent during the same period, from 1.83 billion to 1.93 billion.  In the United States, the population 65 and older will more than double by 2050, rising from 39 million today to 89 million. While children are projected to still outnumber the older population worldwide in 2050, the under 15 population in the United States is expected to fall below the older population by that date, increasing from 62 million today to 85 million.

These figures come from the world population estimates and projections released today through the Census Bureau’s International Data Base. This latest update includes projections by age, including people 100 and older, for 227 countries and areas.  Less than 8 percent of the world’s population is 65 and older. By 2030, the world’s population 65 and older is expected to reach 12 percent, and by 2050, that share is expected to grow to 16 percent.

“This shift in the age structure of the world’s population poses challenges to society, families, businesses, health care providers and policymakers to meet the needs of aging individuals,” said Wan He, demographer in the Census Bureau’s Population Division.

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Last month the Colorado Association of Homes and Services for the Aging named nine winners for the association’s fifth annual Quality First Awards. Quality First is a voluntary program that senior living communities nationwide are undertaking to build excellence in aging services. CAHSA, a leading organization in Colorado for senior housing and care, has signed up the highest percentage of senior care communities in the nation for this unique initiative.

Quality First was introduced almost six years ago by the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, the American Health Care Association and the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care, the largest and most influential aging service organizations in the country. The Quality First initiative is a commitment by senior care organizations to continuously review and improve services and programs.

“Quality First is a philosophy of quality and a framework for earning public trust in aging services. It is a renewal of our commitment as aging services providers to help older adults and their loved ones live their lives to their fullest potential,” said Landwirth. “As an association, we are proud our members have embraced this initiative. Creating and continuing this award annually will help us spotlight the best of the best.”

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Interested in seeing some Japanese senior housing architecture with some flair?  See this post in Architectural Review for an example of a large grided frame designed to create connection and separation, producing a certain intonation of place.  The project was designed by Sou Fujimoto Architects for the elderly with dementia in Noboribetsu, Japan.

For the link, click here.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) launched its new National Seniors’ Housing Survey this week that provides information collected from facilities in all provinces on vacancy rates and rents in seniors’ residences with services not offered in traditional rental structures.  Vacancy rates varied considerably across the country, from a low of 3.4 per cent in Saskatchewan to a high of 18.9 per cent in Newfoundland and Labrador. The vacancy rate in Ontario (13.3 per cent) was above the national figure, while the rates in British Columbia (7.5 per cent) and Quebec (7.9 per cent) were below average.  Average monthly rents in the seniors’ market are higher than traditional market rents, reflecting the additional services and amenities that residents of these structures receive. The average rent for bachelor/private units where meals are included was $1,774 per month. Average rents ranged from a high of $2,519 per month in Ontario to a low of $1,271 in Quebec. Differences in average rents reflect, in part, the varying prevalence of services and amenities in each province. 

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Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE: ELS) (the “Company” or “ELS”) announced on Monday that it has commenced an underwritten public offering of 4,000,000 shares of common stock and announced commitments for mortgages on four manufactured home properties. ELS, which is a fully integrated owner and operator of lifestyle-oriented properties,  intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to repay secured long-term debt and for general corporate uses. Merrill Lynch & Co. and Wachovia Securities are acting as joint book-running managers of the public offering.

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Rochester based not-for-profit PathStone Corporation recently celebrated the grand opening of CanalView apartments with government officials and residents, as well as the agencies and corporations that assisted in the transformation the three-acre site into a new affordable housing complex for senior citizens in the heart of the Village of Lyons.  Construction began in February 2008 on the 36-unit, $4.5 million dollar affordable apartment complex available to seniors 55 and older who meet eligibility standards.  PathStone partnered with Spoleta Construction and Passero Associates with Spoleta serving as general contractor and Passero serving as the architect and engineer.

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HCP (NYSE:HCP) announced that the management agreements on 15 communities operated by Sunrise Senior Living (NYSE:SRZ), Inc. or its subsidiaries (“Sunrise”) have been terminated effective October 1, 2009, for Sunrise’s failure to achieve certain performance thresholds.  HCP expects to transition these facilities to new operators during the second half of 2009, reducing the Sunrise-managed properties in its portfolio to 75 communities from the original 101 communities HCP acquired in the 2006 CNL Retirement Properties, Inc. transaction.

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