While cost-of-living increases have understandably concerned many people, there are surprisingly many housing options for elderly parents, retirees, and older adults looking to make a change.
From entire communities to more private at-home living arrangements, senior adults do not have to accept facilities or homes that are below their standards or preferences.
If you’re planning an arrangement for a parent, here are some housing options for elderly parents to consider for your loved one.
Retirement Communities
Older adults live independently in a senior-friendly community. In some cases, this involves living in separate houses. For others, it’s living together in retirement homes, each providing their own space.
Retirement communities are often called independent living communities. For elderly parents who want to pursue this route, it opens them up to meeting others in their age bracket. Retirement homes are where they develop friendships and pursue activities with like-minded individuals.
Senior Apartments
Several independent living options are available for seniors and their elderly parents. These options include small collections of townhouses or apartments specifically geared toward seniors.
Some of these units are age-restricted and carefully monitored to ensure affordability and senior friendliness. In this type of retirement community, everyone lives independently, and autonomy is more important than community aspects.
Modifying Their Existing Home
Aging in place is another option for elderly parents. However, modifications must be made if they remain in their home. These might include installing grab bars in the bathroom, moving the bedroom to the main floor, and similar renovations.
To fund this, many elderly parents take reverse mortgages, which may or may not be advantageous depending on circumstances. If they are still in their home, this could be an option for housing.
Assisted Living Facility
An assisted living facility is similar to a retirement home where elderly parents can live independently; however, it includes personal and medical care. They receive assistance with daily necessities. Though this varies per facility, assisted living usually offers meals, housekeeping, laundry, recreational activities, exercise, transportation to medical appointments, and similar services.
An assisted living facility can offer benefits for elderly parents with medical needs, however simple or complex.
Nursing Homes
Nursing homes extend beyond assisted living facilities and offer higher medical care. They have more amenities tailored to elderly parents who can no longer care for themselves. Nursing homes help with getting in and out of bed, feeding, bathing, and similar assistance.
As a senior housing option, your parents will receive around-the-clock care and monitor their health problems continuously.
Move Them In with the Kids
Elderly parents often move in with an adult child. This has many advantages. It maintains the adult-child connection. An elderly parent can help around the house and reduce living expenses by paying rent.
This arrangement also allows you to watch over your elderly parents and ensure they’re staying active, healthy, and happy. Unfortunately, it can be stressful and argumentative when expectations aren’t clear between elderly parents and children.
In-Home Care
If you know your elderly parent requires medical care and attention and refuses to leave their existing home, you may want to consider in-home care. This is to have someone move in who can assist with daily tasks.
This isn’t necessarily a nurse but someone who can help with cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, and taking care of the place. They also provide your elderly parent with a roommate to make friends with and connect with.
Home Sharing
To lower costs for an elderly parent, you may ask them to consider renting their space to another senior or someone who can assist around the house. This benefits your parents financially and ensures they can continue living independently. It is an easy way to half bills and is becoming more popular.
There are even services and websites dedicated to helping older individuals find roommates. That said, if one housemate has declining health, the other could take on a caregiver role.
Subsidized Housing
There may be subsidized housing for seniors available in your local region. The difficulty here is that the wait list is often long, and navigating the subsidized housing program can be frustrating.
Subsidized units may only be available for years if you require immediate housing. There is no guarantee of a date in the future when your elderly parent could be placed. While it’s worth looking into, in most cases, another housing option is easier to arrange and better overall.
