Aging in Place: The Over-Housed Senior
(photo obviousmag.org)
You never know what is enough, until you know what is more than enough.
-William Blake, Proverbs of Hell
The other morning I went to the cupboard for some cereal and found two boxes, each containing less than 1/3 of the original contents; the boxes were taking up scarce shelf space.
Next, the UPS delivery guy arrived with a package large enough to house several pounds of French roast: Yet the box was feather light (?).
Opening the box I discovered two titanium “sporks” which I had ordered for backpacking; each packaged side-by-side like a “spooning” couple. They appeared hurriedly wrapped in brown paper and stuffed into a box four times the size needed.
This got me thinking about Space Utilization…
Seniors Over-Housed
Across the country seniors find themselves still living in suburbia in four-bedroom houses where they once raised families. Many of the homes have maintance issues and access to shopping, recreation, and health care centers are a challenge if they no longer drive. They may also be keeping younger people from acquiring suitable homes for raising growing families.
A past article from the Wall Street Journal describes how aging in place keep houses off the market. Real-estate broker Adrienne Chadwin in Larchmont, N.Y., north of New York City, reports in her area less than 10 homes are added to the market each week, even though the district has more than a hundred families waiting to buy. “Older people are supposed to be leaving these big houses, and one would expect that in this high-priced market, where sellers are calling the shots, they’d be doing it, but for some reason they’re not,” she says.
The article quotes a Mr. Veneziano (baby boomer) as an example, who prefers aging in place to moving. He likes being able to walk to his son’s house, and besides, economics argues against a move. Although he could make plenty of money selling his house — he bought it for a price “in the low” $20,000s and now it is appraised at about $350,000 — home values have soared so much he feels it would be hard to find anything comparable for a decent price. Considering the advantages of staying put, he asks, “Where am I going to move to?”
FabCab = Fabulous Cabin
Award winning architect Emory Baldwin may have an answer for Mr. Veneziano (and others like him) which he would have never even considered—and it might be more than enough for his needs.
FabCabs are pre-fabricated environmentally-friendly accessory dwelling units (granny-flats) made for aging in place. These small homes are beautiful, low maintance, energy efficient and universally designed to respond to people’s changing needs. The FabCab is the kind of innovative design which opens up all kinds of solutions in response to the question:
“Where am I going to move to?”
Think of the possibilities…
See:
Seniors Sell Large Home and Gain New Life Style
Top 10 Mistakes Made When Designing Small Spaces
Justa Ackmann
Good information in your post, I saw this report on television yesterday about this same thing and since I am getting married in two weeks and the timing could not have been better! thanks for the tip!, I have bookmarked, thanks Justa Ackmann