The Home: New Lease on Life

THE HOME

First, there was the "retirement community" — invented six years ago when the Federal Housing Administration first offered special financing for housing projects designed for the elderly.

The developers' idea was that the old wanted a place in the sun, and large tracts of desert and seaside bloomed with the new "villages." The sign on the gate said, "No children, no dogs"; there were shuffleboard courts, hobby shops, a bingo game every evening, and to many an oldster, it seemed as close to heaven as they cared to get. But there were other oldsters who viewed with dismay the thought of living out their remaining years in a ghetto of the aged, however comfortable its appointments or however lush its garden plots. In stead of putting themselves out to pasture, they preferred to remain in the hurly-burly of the megalopolis, where they could be close to kin and culture.

Result is the high-rise retirement apartment, and across the U.S. they are appearing in increasing numbers in major communities. The advantages are multiple. The downtown developer still gets all the financial help offered tract developers. And the retired have a home that is within walking distance of downtown, to which they can invite old friends for cocktails, or children and grandchildren for dinner. Unless they look hard, visitors do not even notice the necessary modifications—doors wide enough for wheelchairs, grab bars in the bathtub, raised electrical sockets (to save stooping), and panic buttons for emergencies. To the tenants, the best aspect of the new "sunset skyscrapers" is the assurance that the panic button will always bring prompt, professional aid. All the new buildings either have their own infirmaries and medical clinics or have special arrangements with a nearby hospital.

High Living, Low Rents. There are all the usual extras—solaria, cardrooms, libraries, and organized entertainments. But there is less pressure to use them, for hundreds of other sources of entertainment wait just beyond the front door. The rents are surprisingly low, because the new buildings are sponsored by local governments or non-profit organizations.

In downtown Providence, R.I., for instance, the city housing authority constructed the eleven-story Dexter Manor for elderly people with incomes of less than $3,300 a year. The rent is a modest $43 a month for an efficiency unit, and there are now three people wait-listed for every occupancy. A similar building that will be completed in May is already oversubscribed by 470. Says Housing Authority Executive Director Joseph Lyons: "Older people like to see kids fighting in the streets and traffic moving. I was offered a beautiful site three miles from town and near a golf course. I turned it down. Who wants to live out there?"