In our November article we focused on aging in place, or remaining in your home as long as possible. This month we will focus on other shared housing options.
The Census Bureau’s 2012 American Community Survey, 3.8 percent of women 65 and older chose not to live alone. This is up from 2.96 percent in 2005. For men 65 and older, the percentage during the same period remained the same at 9.1 percent. A small, but growing number of women are looking to find methods of shared housing as they age.
Unusual Housing Options
Marianne Kilkenny retired from her job in Silicon Valley and was ready for a change. She wasn’t sure what that was until she read a novel called The Ladies of Covington Send their Love, by Joan Medlicott. After reading this book, Kilkenny moved to Ashville, NC to try shared housing, just like the characters in the book. This lead her to create Women for Living in a Community (WLC).
According to their webpage, “Women For Living in Community brings together women….to create communities for growing older with grace and dignity. We also connect with existing community models and professionals to provide the necessary resources and alternatives.” WLC serves as a clearinghouse for information on a variety of options for housing as women (and men) age. And WLC also wants to serve as a place of connection to help others find the right community for themselves.
WLC suggests ideas such as shared housing where roommates, sometimes of different ages, live in a home together. Other ideas include creating intentional communities in geographic areas where people live on their own, but have a ready-made community based on common interests. This is the basic principal behind the idea of a retirement community, but intentional communities are not necessarily based on age. They are based on common beliefs, like eco-sustainable living, or community consensus-building, as opposed to simply someone’s age.
Which Is Right for You?
As with any major decision, determining that takes research and time. The first major step is to begin to know the options that exist, and like Marianne Kilkenny, consider creating an option that works for you, but may not exist yet!
About the author
