From co-housing to niche communities and the Village Model, today’s retirees have many, many options, writes author Beth Baker in a Forbes column this week. The emphasis is on community, she says, and the rising number of nontraditional options that are making waves.
“I started to see news articles about The Village Model and then I looked around and realized I had friends who moved into co-housing or had begun to live with a friend and share a house. So I felt it was an emerging trend that’s grappling with some pretty profound issues that can really make our lives better as we grow older,” Baker says in the Forbes question and answer column.
Preferences are shifting greatly among baby boomers from the previous generation of senior living inhabitants, Baker found in her nationwide study of senior living options.
“I think what we want is very much what our parents wanted,” Baker, 62 says. “What’s different is I feel like we have more confidence and more of a history of making change happen. So it’s not that the desires have shifted; it’s that I think we are — as a generation — more proactive, willing to shake things up and proud of that.”
Baker shares findings on Alzheimer’s care including an independent operator of a memory care community in Maine and house sharing—both types.
“I think people should start thinking about things like that and get creative so they can live out their lives the way they want,” she says.
View the full article on Forbes.
Written by Elizabeth Ecker
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