Senior Housing

[Cypress]

I am probably 15+ years away from Senior Housing. Hopefully, my health will stay good and I can stay in my home until I am around 70. That's the hope. The reality is someday I see myself moving into Senior Housing. I am fine living apartment style in a unit somewhere.

I'd like to find a place that's in my state of Massachusetts, but is situated so that I am not needing a car. Hopefully, if my legs are still working, I kinda see me walking to the market, library, senior center, etc. My town has a housing authority, but you need a car to get around. There is no public transportation. If I want to apply for housing, say in Concord MA, can I do that? Just get the application, submit and see what happens? I know some towns have wicked long wait lists. I know that I would get priority in my town.

Has anybody gone through this process? How did it go? I tend to be proactive and look forward to a change, maybe I'll still have to work but at some point, home maintenance will not be fun anymore.

[freshstart]

I am probably 15+ years away from Senior Housing. Hopefully, my health will stay good and I can stay in my home until I am around 70. That's the hope. The reality is someday I see myself moving into Senior Housing. I am fine living apartment style in a unit somewhere.

I'd like to find a place that's in my state of Massachusetts, but is situated so that I am not needing a car. Hopefully, if my legs are still working, I kinda see me walking to the market, library, senior center, etc. My town has a housing authority, but you need a car to get around. There is no public transportation. If I want to apply for housing, say in Concord MA, can I do that? Just get the application, submit and see what happens? I know some towns have wicked long wait lists. I know that I would get priority in my town.

Has anybody gone through this process? How did it go? I tend to be proactive and look forward to a change, maybe I'll still have to work but at some point, home maintenance will not be fun anymore.

Having been a home care and hospice home care nurse, this topic came up a lot or I saw patients in Senior Housing. Social workers would help patients apply. You have to be fairly independent as usually there are not personal care services. So I would see hospice patients there only if they had a 24 hr care person, otherwise they were too sick to live there alone. The ones that went by how low income you are have long lists and sometimes the apts are not just for seniors but also for anyone low income, mentally ill or disabled. These are not as nice and around here, are not in the good parts of the city. I would find it hard to stay in one of these. Every time you term around, there's another bed bug infestation, very limited activities, there is bus service, some issues with theft.

The Senior Housing for people with a moderate income have the longest lists, but you can sign up and defer when your name comes up and you go back to the bottom of the list. If you are 15 yrs away from needing an apt, I would not put your name on the list yet. I have found these apts to be quite nice, fairly large, clean building, the rents go by how much you earn (I don't know if they look at assets but I assume they would). In our area, these tend to be in the suburbs. They do have some services, such as congregate dining through MOWS, bus day trips, buses to the grocery, bank, etc., movie nights, game nights, basically whatever the community wants within reason in terms of activities. They're not lavish but nice enough that I could certainly live in one but would hope that I am still able to drive.

Then there is Senior Housing that has nothing to do with your income. These are gorgeous, the activities are top of the line, a bed bug infestation would be a scandal worthy of being in the newspaper. The average Joe cannot begin to afford these. They are often part of a community that offers multiple layers of care, starting with independent cottage living (these are gorgeous), then Senior apts, then assisted living and ending in nursing home.

I probably know more about senior housing that I am forgetting, if you have any questions.

[Teacher Terry]

The ones that go by income take a third of your income for rent. Some look at assets and some do not. FS: covered the various options well. I used to be a social worker so have some knowledge but things can really vary.