It Takes a Village

August 8, 2013 12:30 PM

How One Group of Seniors Bucked Convention and Avoided the Retirement Home (SLPBS)
posted by Etrigan (3 comments total)

I really like this idea. The piece's title focuses just on one aspect of the issue, but the Beacon Hill residents' plan is even more about avoiding the "low-cost-of-living area" trap, where retirees are encouraged to move out of cities and suburbs to far-flung areas away from family, their old professional networks, public transit, and often good medical care. It's not just the cohesion of individual families that this trend threatens; it affects the fabric of society as a whole. Cities don't have to worry about providing services to the elderly; the low-cost-of-living areas don't have to worry about providing jobs to those of working age. (When I lived in Ann Arbor, it was openly suggested that the city should try to attract more retirees because they could prop up housing values without requiring employment.)
posted by Ralston McTodd at 2:07 PM on August 8, 2013 [2 favorites]

Thanks for this. My dad was a doc who died ~25 years ago. He "saw" the wave of boomers coming early-on. With that in mind, he maintained that the hip replacement was the most important medical breakthrough during his career and that people should live collectively in their dotages. Smart guy, nice idea. (I feared the link would be another PBS Flash video, but was glad to see the Ray Suarez byline.)
posted by issue #1 at 3:24 PM on August 8, 2013

As one who tried to tap into "Village to Village" to get started in my own city, I can assure you they are not ready to help reproduce their model elsewhere.

It's a good idea but not yet franchise-ready.
posted by surplus at 12:21 AM on August 9, 2013