PartnersMany more housing options for Boomers
Posted on October 28, 2015
| by Age-Friendly Sarasota
Author and journalist Beth Baker says many more housing options await Baby Boomers as they enter retirement.
The author of “With a Little Help from Our Friends: Creating Community as We Grow Older,” told about 100 audience members Tuesday at USF Sarasota-Manatee’s Selby Auditorium that she found numerous examples of creative housing choices for the newest generation of retirees, from house-sharing to small artist-like communities.
Despite the varied living arrangements, she said she encountered themes of unity, cooperation and neighbors helping neighbors as she crisscrossed the country researching her book, published last year.
In Texas, she interviewed a group of RV owners who created their own community. The only rule for members was to be able to get from their RVs to the centrally located recreation center.
“It didn’t matter how you got there – you could be in wheelchair,” Baker said.
Other housing examples ran from friends living together sharing mortgage payments as they looked out for one another to communities of like-minded individuals, like artist colonies.
Dr. Kathy Black, a professor of social work and gerontology at USFSM, said, “Beth Baker’s book is a reminder to all of us about the importance of planning ahead for our own longevity by considering what is important to us as we age and how to create that supportive living arrangement that allows us to live as fully as possible, and by also recognizing the limits of our own autonomy and that needing others, and in turn being there for others, is what matters most to all of us as we age.”
Click here to view pictures from the event.
The author of “With a Little Help from Our Friends: Creating Community as We Grow Older,” told about 100 audience members Tuesday at USF Sarasota-Manatee’s Selby Auditorium that she found numerous examples of creative housing choices for the newest generation of retirees, from house-sharing to small artist-like communities.
Despite the varied living arrangements, she said she encountered themes of unity, cooperation and neighbors helping neighbors as she crisscrossed the country researching her book, published last year.
In Texas, she interviewed a group of RV owners who created their own community. The only rule for members was to be able to get from their RVs to the centrally located recreation center.
“It didn’t matter how you got there – you could be in wheelchair,” Baker said.
Other housing examples ran from friends living together sharing mortgage payments as they looked out for one another to communities of like-minded individuals, like artist colonies.
Dr. Kathy Black, a professor of social work and gerontology at USFSM, said, “Beth Baker’s book is a reminder to all of us about the importance of planning ahead for our own longevity by considering what is important to us as we age and how to create that supportive living arrangement that allows us to live as fully as possible, and by also recognizing the limits of our own autonomy and that needing others, and in turn being there for others, is what matters most to all of us as we age.”
Click here to view pictures from the event.
- CATEGORIES: Housing
