Affordable senior housing has become both necessary and newsworthy. As noted in earlier entries on Cambridge Realty Capital’s blog, seniors on the whole are living longer but with less savings. This means, essentially, that they need more for less. Thus, that affordable senior housing has become a hot topic seems quite natural, and exceptional projects are making headlines. Two projects that have received recent attention are the Lansdale project in Pennsylvania and Colorado’s High Mar Senior Housing
Lansdale Project
The Lansdale project located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania hasn’t even been completed and its already being called a “model for affordable senior housing” by news sources. The project is multi-faceted and includes a four-story building with 60 affordable senior residences.
The project, like many senior housing projects lately, seeks to create a community. One of the ways it does this is through its front door. The door will actually be a long entrance to multiple locations – the housing units, the YMCA, and a soup kitchen. The hope is that placing the residences in this central location rather than isolated in the suburbs will help seniors interact with the community, perhaps by volunteering at the soup kitchen or the YMCA.
Philadelphia is in a good position to test such a project as Pennsylvania has the nation’s fourth oldest population and nearly a third of them are centralized in the greater Philadelphia area.
High Mar Senior Housing
High Mar Senior Housing is a Boulder, Colorado, 59-unit apartment building with 38 one-bedrooms and 21 two-bedrooms for residents with at least one household member aged 55+. The community has features associated more with upscale living than affordable housing communities.
The view for one, is breathtaking. The construction is “green,” complying with Enterprise Green Communities and City of Boulder Green Points programs. The community boasts solar panels and readers allowing residents to monitor their energy usage, which serves the dual function of helping residents maintain their budgets and keeping energy usage low. The community’s design rivals its function and it was recently awarded a Senior Housing News design award.
Kauai County Affordable Senior Housing
This project out of Hawaii, a state notorious for its high cost of housing, is set to open in March and includes 60 units of affordable senior housing located proximately to senior services. The project was started by a private company but eventually bought out by the county, which then obtained state and federal housing tax credits. Similar to the other communities, this one has nice features and amenities including a ceiling fans, community gardens, and energy efficient appliances.
Financial Incentives
It is not just seniors and businesses that are recognizing the need for affordable senior housing projects. Cities, counties, states, and the federal government know that more of this type of housing is needed and are making it a top priority by providing financial incentives to encourage more of them. If affordable senior housing projects are in your future, it’d serve you well to look for grants and tax incentives.
Affordable senior housing is just one of the many trends that the experienced professionals at Cambridge Realty Capitalkeep up to date on in order to provide informed, exceptional service to our clients.
