Editor’s Picks: Tap Dancing at 85

This week, Senior Housing News readers tuned into stories about senior housing rents and occupancy outlooks. Readers were also interested to learn how minimum wage hikes in New York and California will impact senior living providers, and why brokers disagree about where the skilled nursing industry is headed.

Here in the newsroom, we loved the story of an 85-year-old who just learned to tap dance and a senior living community in Washington that’s home to five women older than 100.

Most Read

Minimum Wage Hikes to Have Ripple Effect in Senior Living—Minimum wage hikes recently approved in California and New York mean that workers will soon earn $15 an hour, but the associated costs and implications put pressure on pay across the board for senior living providers. “What everybody forgets is that this change pushes up against everyone else’s pay in the organization,” Michelle Esser, vice president of talent management and human resources for be.group, tells Senior Housing News. “It’s not just a minimum wage change.”

Senior Housing Occupancy Outlook Mixed Across Property Types—A sunny economic outlook and favorable demographic trends will propel the national seniors housing market forward in 2016, according to Marcus & Milichap’s National Seniors Housing Research Report for the first half of 2016. “The outlook overall for seniors housing this year will remain very favorable, as it was in 2015,” Brian Murdy, senior vice president/national director at Marcus & Millichap division Institutional Property Advisors (IPA), tells Senior Housing News.

New Data Reveals the Truth Behind Senior Living Costs—The cost of senior housing and care may be outpacing inflation, but now’s a great time to consider making the transition from homeowner to senior living resident, according to newly released data from A Place for Mom. The senior living referral service’s new National Senior Living Cost Index is based on actual rent and care charges collected from a sample of almost 100,000 A Place for Mom move-ins between 2012 and 2015—and that makes it the first of its kind.

Brokers Clash Over the State of Skilled Nursing—There’s strong disagreement among senior housing brokers over what kinds of operators will come to dominate the skilled nursing industry—and exactly how much control they will have. Aggressive buying tactics may ultimately lead to the skilled nursing sector experiencing “controlled monopolies” in each of its markets, Senior Living Investment Brokerage President Grant Kief says. IPA Executive Director Mark Myers disagrees.

Weekend Reads 

After 50 Years, Three Siblings Live Again Under the Same Roof—After about 50 years of living apart, three siblings now live under the same roof again in a Bloomington, Minnesota, senior living community. “When siblings get married, you get separated and don’t see each other so often,” 79-year-old Larry Wood told the Star Tribune. “We’re a lot closer as a family now.”

Assisted Living Home Celebrates Five Centenarians—Merrill Gardens Assisted/Independent Living in Mountlake Terrace, Washington, has five women in their community who are at least 100 years old. 

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Eighty-five-year-old Arne Mayala had always wanted to learn to tap dance. When he spotted a dance studio on his way to a tax appointment, he knew what he had to do.

Written by Mary Kate Nelson