Retirement Living News

February 2007

HEADLINES  (Click on headline to read story)

• Congress Approves New Respite Care Act
• Study Finds Small Percentage of Retirees Move to Urban Areas
• Sunrise-Prudential in Joint Venture to Develop $1B
  in United Kingdom Senior Living
• Research Shows Seniors in Assisted Living Could Benefit 
  From More Time Outdoors
• New Directory of Continuing Care Retirement 
  Communities Available
• Chattanooga Launches Program to Attract Retirees

Archive of Past Issues                          New Retirement Communities

NEWS STORIES

Congress Approves New Respite Care Act 

Before adjourning in December, the 109th Congress unanimously approved a bill that will provide a measure of relief for the millions of Americans currently providing unpaid care in their homes to the elderly or those with special needs. President Bush has signed the bill into law. 

The Lifespan Respite Care Act (HR 3248) authorizes nearly $300 million in grants to states over the next five years to help families hire temporary help to relieve primary caregivers. Building on programs in states like North Carolina, the new federal law will provide respite services regardless of age, income level or condition severity. 

Starting in 2007, the new federal law will give states money to provide respite care services for family caregivers caring for children or adults, to train and recruit respite care workers and volunteers, and to provide information to caregivers about available respite and support services. States will make proposals to the federal government on how to spend the money and will compete for grants, so every state's program will be somewhat different. 

But the bill's easy passage signals the growing political force of health-care issues amid a confluence of forces: increasing costs, fraying insurance coverage, the aging of baby boomers, medical advances extending life expectancy, and legal and cultural shifts leading more families to try to care for relatives at home. The new law also is part of a growing effort by the federal government to encourage home care as a way of saving money in other programs, especially Medicaid, for the high cost of nursing homes. If every senior's institutionalization is delayed one month, it could save the government as much as $1.12 billion a year. 

Jill Kagan, chairwoman of the National Respite Coalition (NRC), said that "in the short term, [the new law] will ease the burden on Medicaid and Medicare. In the long term it won't avoid nursing home placement, but it will be a cost saving." To view a copy of the legislation and the NRC's Web site, go to http://www.archrespite.org/NRC.htm 

For information on the development of programs in your state, check with your Department of Health and Human Services (or the equivalent agency).
                                                                                     Top

Study Finds Small Percentage of Retirees Move to Urban Areas

A study of mortgage trends by the Research Institute for Housing America (RIHA), a unit of the Mortgage Bankers Association, finds that based on the last decade's experience, in a given five-year period, only 2 percent of all empty-nest retirement-age suburban homeowners can be expected to move to an urban area. It also concludes that suburban empty-nesters are just as likely to move to a non-metropolitan area as they are to an urban area. 

The second portion of the study focuses on the mobility of older households, with a particular interest in quantifying suburban-urban migration. For older households, mobility is not determined by changes in employment, income, or broader labor-market conditions, but instead by changes in marital status, primarily widowhood, and health and functional status. 

The study, titled "Housing Trends Among Baby Boomers," found that 43 million American households aged 50 or older owned their primary residence in 2004. Fifteen percent of this group, or 6.6 million households, also owned a second home. The study concluded that the second home market is relatively small, but there will be sustained future growth in second-home mortgage activity due to the sheer size of the Baby Boom cohort, and not because baby boomers own these properties at a higher rate than older generations. 

Of the total of retirement-age homeowners located in central cities, the suburban-to-urban flow of homeowners represents 11.7 percent. Another finding was that 76 percent of empty-nest suburbanites who moved to urban areas were white, 60 percent were married, and 25 percent were divorced. Just over 40 percent had college degrees and were younger than 55, respectively. About half of these movers had incomes of $40,000 or less, and three-quarters had incomes of $70,000 or less. Finally, the study reported that empty-nest suburbanites moving back to the urban areas in the 10 largest metropolitan areas were more likely to be non-white, more highly educated, and to have incomes greater than $70,000, respectively, than movers in all other metro areas. 

The study did note that middle and late baby boomers might turn out to have substantially stronger tastes for an urban living in retirement. However, if the experience of the early baby boomers and their older cohorts is at all predictive of future moves, it would seem that substantial growth in the urban homeownership rate by older households due to migration from the suburbs is unlikely. 

To obtain a copy of the report, visit the RIHA Web site at http://www.housingamerica.org/docs/6687_BabyBoomer_WP.pdf
                                                                                             Top

Sunrise-Prudential in Joint Venture to Develop $1B 
in United Kingdom Senior Living

Sunrise Senior Living Inc. and Prudential Real Estate Investors will develop 18 assisted living communities in the United Kingdom during the next four years at a cost of $1 billion. The companies announced last month that they will form a joint venture to develop the properties in desirable residential locations. 

Prudential Real Estate Investors, acting on behalf of institutional investors, will own 80 percent of the joint venture, with 20 percent owned by Sunrise. The two companies will contribute a total of about $200 million total to develop the properties, with additional funds provided by third-party lenders. Once constructed, Sunrise will operate the communities under long-term agreements.

Since 1999, Sunrise has opened a dozen communities in the United Kingdom, with 18 more currently being built or developed. The capacity of the company's 12 United Kingdom properties is about 3,000 residents. The company also has communities in Germany. 

Sunrise is also looking at other areas of Europe where it may develop communities. Near-term targets are Ireland, France and Spain though nothing is firm yet in those countries. Population trends are the reason. Between 2000 and 2010 the total population of the continent will decrease one percent, but the population of people over 80 years old will increase 44 percent. 

Sunrise, based in McLean, Va., is the largest global senior living operator, with a total of 436 communities and 50,000 residents in the United States, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom. Another 46 Sunrise communities are under construction, representing additional capacity for 6,000 residents.
                                                                                          Top

Research Shows Seniors in Assisted Living 
Could Benefit From More Time Outdoors

Seniors who spend even modest amounts of time outdoors generally benefit from improvements in mood, hormone balance, sleep patterns and increased physical activity. However, usable outdoor space is typically underutilized in senior housing communities because it fails to meet residents' expectations for accessibility, comfort and aesthetics. These finding are based on a study by Dr. Susan Rodiek, associate director of the Center for Health Systems & Design at Texas A&M University. 

Dr. Rodiek's study - a white paper entitled "A Missing Link: Can Enhanced Outdoor Space Improve Seniors Housing?" - was awarded the GE Award for Best Research Paper in the 2006 Seniors Housing & Care Journal. The peer-reviewed journal is published annually by the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing & Care Industry.

"An impressive amount of progress has been made in senior care in the last few decades in the assisted living industry," said Dr. Rodiek. "That environment provides a comfortable, homelike, residential setting that has had a positive impact on seniors' quality of life. But it seemed the one thing missing was adequate access to the outside. Even well-developed and expensive outdoor space was not being used. So, I set about studying this topic 10 years ago to find out why. I call it the 'missing link' and that became the basis for this paper." 

The paper presents findings from focus groups, written surveys and photo-based surveys conducted with seniors at 14 assisted living facilities, which were randomly selected from 12 counties in Texas. The research answers several questions, including: 

• Are seniors interested in going outdoors? 
• How do they feel after being outside? 
• What are the potential health benefits? 
• Why are outdoor spaces underutilized? 
• What issues need to be addressed so that outdoor space will be used? 
• How can providers benefit from increased usage? 

Although Rodiek's research found that while some residents' concerns about using outdoor space could take time to address - such as improving the aesthetics of the space itself - other concerns were relatively easy to fix. For example, some seniors just cited the need for places to sit and rest. Others noted that doors to the outside were difficult to negotiate, which in many cases may be addressed by a simple adjustment of the existing overhead door-closing device.

"Better design of the outdoor areas would not only improve resident satisfaction and well-being," said Rodiek, "but it could also produce financial benefits for senior living providers." She noted that communities with happier residents are easier to manage and those properties are easier to market to prospective residents. Family members are also likely to visit more often and stay longer, helping to supplement staff care.
                                                                                            Top

New Directory of Continuing Care Retirement Communities Available

For those seeking a continuing care retirement community, either for a family member or themselves, a helpful new directory is available. Titled The Complete Directory of Continuing Care Retirement Communities, it contains detailed information on 917 continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) in 48 states (including the District of Columbia). According to the author, Robert M. Keller, it includes CCRCs operating in 2006 but does not list any in Alaska, Rhode Island and Wyoming because there are none. 

The directory is published by CCRC Data, Inc., of Dedham, Mass. It includes community name and address, Web site and e-mail addresses, a list of amenities, the minimum and maximum entrance fees, information on the type of organization that operates the community, the size of the facility, the average monthly fees, and refunds and discounts that are available. 

It is available in three formats: E-mail delivery ($10); a PDF copy on CD-ROM ($25), and a 379-page printed version ($100). For more information, visit: www.ccrcdata.org.
                                                                                            Top

Chattanooga Launches Program to Attract Retirees

The American Association of Retirement Communities (AARC) has named Chattanooga/Hamilton County as the first community in Tennessee to receive its seal of approval as a retirement destination. 

Randy Winchester, economic development specialist with the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, said he believes that Chattanooga is the largest community in the United States to launch a dedicated retiree marketing initiative. Officials with the Chattanooga Area Convention and Visitor's Bureau provided seed money to develop and maintain components of the "Choose Chattanooga" marketing initiative which includes a brochure, a relocation video and a Web site - www.ChoseChattanooga.com. 

The American Association of Retirement Communities is a not-for-profit professional association, established in 1994 for the purpose of promoting the economic enhancement of communities through the promotion of retiree attraction as an economic development strategy. The organization believes that migrating retirees can be a significant economic asset to communities able to attract them. It communicates these benefits and assists communities interested in marketing to this growing segment of the population. 

Last year AARC awarded a seal of approval to Hot Springs Village in Arkansas. It is the first master-planned community to receive this endorsement. 

The organization has already certified 21 Mississippi communities including Aberdeen, Booneville, Brandon, Brookhaven, Clinton, Columbus, Corinth, Hattiesburg, Laurel, Madison, McComb, Meridan, Gulf Coast, Natchez, Oxford, Picayune, Southhaven, Starkville, Tupelo, Vicksburg, and West Point. 

The AARC program looks at both municipalities and master-planned developments. Some of the criteria used to evaluate them are the adequacy and convenience of medical services, local adult education programs, recreational opportunities, crime rate, environmental quality, and economic quality and vitality.
                                                                                            Top