By Jenni
Bergal
Going Gray: How Aging Boomers
Will Challenge Suburbia
© The Pew Charitable Trusts
Baby boomer Greg Glischinski wants to grow old in his
multilevel suburban home in Centennial, Colorado, but worries there’s no
bedroom or full bathroom on the first floor and public transit options are
limited if he can no longer drive.
CENTENNIAL, Colo. June 22,
2016 — Greg Glischinski and his wife, Sheri, have lived in their two-story
brick and wood Colonial-style house for more than three decades. The retirees,
both in their 60s, want to stay where they are for the rest of their lives.
But their house has no
bedroom or full bathroom on the first floor. It is on a cul-de-sac, and public
transportation options are limited. As they grow older, the Glischinskis may
need in-home assistance with tasks like bathing, dressing and preparing meals —
an expensive proposition.
“It’s a huge problem for
boomers,” said Greg Glischinski, 66. “Quite frankly, I don’t know what we’re
going to do.”
Turns out the kids who
listened to rock ’n’ roll on their transistor radios and watched spellbound as
men walked on the moon — the first American generation raised in the suburbs —
want to grow old there.
In fact, the American
suburbs, built for returning GIs and their burgeoning families, are already
aging. In 1950, only 7.4 percent of suburban residents were 65 and older. By
2014, it was 14.5 percent. It will rise dramatically in the coming decades,
with the graying of 75.4 million baby boomers mostly living in suburbia.
But car-centric suburban
neighborhoods with multilevel homes and scarce sidewalks are a poor match for
people who can’t climb stairs or drive a car.
“Most [boomers] are in a
state of denial about what really is possible and what’s reasonable for them as
they age,” said John Feather, a gerontologist and the CEO of Grantmakers in
Aging, a national association of foundations for seniors.
Mildred Warner, professor of
city and regional planning at Cornell University, said too many Americans are
“living in a Peter Pan world.” People become “more feeble” as they age, she
said, and communities need to plan and budget for that.
But state and local officials
are largely unprepared to handle heightened demands for transportation,
affordable housing and long-term care. One study estimated that spending on public transit would
have to increase 81 percent, to $8.6 billion, by 2030 to meet the needs of
seniors who want to stay in their homes.
Some researchers foresee
conflicts between seniors and families with school-age children over
increasingly scarce government resources. Many working- and middle-class
retirees, some of whom are trapped in their suburban homes because they are
still underwater — they owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth
— won’t be able to afford to modify them to make them livable in old age.
Some live in areas where the
cost of renting or buying elsewhere would be higher than what they already pay.
And subsidized housing for seniors is in short supply in the suburbs.
“The graying of suburbia is
going to become the central challenge of the country and the suburbs,” said
Lawrence Levy, executive dean of the National Center for Suburban Studies at
Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. “Most suburbs are not ready. They
don’t have the resources, experience or ability to deal with these big issues.”
Boomers in the Burbs
This year, the oldest boomers
started turning 70. The youngest will be 52. By 2035, there will be 77 million
Americans aged 65 and over, up from about 48 million in 2015.
Nearly two-thirds of boomers
in metropolitan areas lived in the suburbs in 2014, and most want to age there,
according to national surveys.
Demographers agree that as
people age, they tend to stay where they are. “Older people don’t move that
much,” said William Frey, demographer and senior fellow at the Brookings
Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program.
“The boomers might have moved
into the city for a while to feel their oats, go to college or sample the
nightlife. But typically they moved back to the suburbs when they had kids and
pretty much stayed there,” Frey said. And now, because boomers are such a big
group, the senior population is set to surge all across the country.
Boomers are expected to live
longer, and retire later, than earlier generations. But they also have higher
rates of chronic disease, and don’t have the retirement savings their parents
did. Many members of the generation that sang “I hope I die before I get old”
have not planned for old age.
More than one in four
households age 55 to 64 has no retirement savings from a 401(k), an IRA or a
pension, a recent federal reportfound.
Their median net worth is about $9,000 and 91 percent of them have less than
$25,000 in financial assets. Nearly half of boomers are still paying off their
homes and eight in 10 hold some form of debt, according to a 2015 study by the Pew Charitable Trusts (Pew also funds Stateline).
The Glischinskis, in
Colorado, had built up their 401(k)s and were feeling good about their
financial future until they both were struck by serious health issues.
“We’ve had to cash out our
retirement nest eggs to pay bills,” Greg Glischinski said. “You try to plan,
but all of a sudden, something else gets in the way.”
Retirees who want to stay in
the suburbs will have to cover the rising costs of property taxes and utilities,
and they may have to shell out big sums to retrofit their homes if they become
frail or disabled.
One study found that it can cost $800 to $1,200 to widen a
doorway to accommodate a wheelchair, $1,600 to $3,200 for a ramp, and up to
$12,000 for a stair lift. Major remodeling, such as adding first-floor bedrooms
or bathrooms, can cost much more.
Some empty nesters will sell
their suburban homes and move into hip urban downtowns, but they are an
affluent, niche market.
For Wendell Cox, of
Demographia, a public policy consulting firm, the idea that a wave of aging
boomers will flood downtown neighborhoods is “a lot of hype and baloney.”
“Most people aren’t going to
move to Washington [D.C.] and pay $1 million for a condo,” Cox said. “If they
do move from the suburbs at all, it usually will be farther out.”
Cul-de-Sac Culture
Suburbanites rely on their
cars to get everywhere, whether it’s picking up groceries, dropping off dry
cleaning or meeting friends for dinner.
But as people grow old, they
no longer may be comfortable — or able — to drive. That may mean relying on
public transit, which often is scarce in suburbia. And that’s expected to have
a major impact on local and state government, which will face increasing
pressure to provide transportation.
In Illinois, for example,
where one in five residents is projected to be 65 and over by 2030,
transportation for older adults will be “particularly challenging” in suburbs
and rural areas that lack a fixed-route transit system, according to a July
2014 report by the University of Illinois at Chicago and
the Urban Transportation Center. The report urges Illinois officials to take
steps now to develop alternatives.
A Georgia Council on Aging report notes that the majority of older residents live
in the suburbs, which are filled with “un-walkable” areas that make it
difficult for them to remain active and healthy.
“Significant suburban
cul-de-sac development has created isolated and segregated communities that
offer limited transportation alternatives to the car,” the report found.
Boomers who age in their
homes in the suburbs will be facing many of the same challenges older seniors
already are dealing with. Take Maxine McArn, a 90-year-old widow who fends for
herself most of the day in her single-family home of 30 years, in suburban
Kansas City. Although her son lives with her, he works long hours and isn’t
around much.
McArn, who gave up driving
many years ago, says transportation is her biggest challenge. She relies on
friends and relatives to take her where she needs to go. “I’m blessed I have
family and friends. People who don’t are in trouble,” she said.
But she worries about the
strain that places on family members, who have their own lives and
responsibilities. “Your family works and you don’t want to bother them all the
time,” she said. “They need time off. They don’t need to be driving me around
the town.”
Even if a suburb has a
regional transit system, the routes are often limited and geared to help
commuters get to and from work in the city.
The nearest bus or train stop
may be miles from the subdivisions where aging boomers live. And while the
Americans with Disabilities Act requires most public transit systems to provide
pickup “paratransit” for people with disabilities who are unable to use regular
bus or train services, that applies only to people who meet certain criteria.
One alternative is
transportation services overseen by a federally funded network of local
agencies that offer services and support to older adults to help them age at
home and in the community. In many regions, these Area Agencies on Aging
contract with local providers that offer door-to-door van services to older
adults who qualify.
But those programs, often
geared to taking seniors to medical appointments and grocery stores, usually
offer little flexibility and require clients to make reservations.
That’s not likely to appeal
to boomers, experts say.
“I don’t think the boomer
population will be satisfied with making a reservation for a bus 48 hours in
advance,” said Jana Lynott, an AARP senior policy adviser who focuses on
transportation issues. “Boomers are going to demand convenience in
transportation to be able to get out into the community.”
In other words, they’ll want
transportation not just for specific services, but for daily living. Boomers
who have the resources might be able to rely on ride-hailing companies such as
Uber and Lyft or even on self-driving cars in the future. But those who don’t
may be counting on government and nonprofits for help.
Transportation is essential
to keeping aging boomers healthy, and local and state governments and
nonprofits need to coordinate and plan for their future transportation needs,
said Stephanie Firestone, director of livable communities for the National
Association of Area Agencies on Aging.
“Once older adults give up
their car keys, they take a lot fewer trips for social purposes. Some stop
going to medical appointments. Some stop going to church,” Firestone said.
“It’s a direct cause of mental and physical health deterioration.”
That’s one of Greg
Glischinski’s biggest concerns as he envisions growing old in his suburban
Centennial home. Regional public transit goes to Denver and Aurora, but it
can’t help him get around in his own city.
“We’ve lived here 37 years
and want to remain here for the rest of our lives,” he said. But good
transportation is essential. “Right now, you jump into a car just to go a half
a mile,” Glischinski said. But that’s not so easy when you’re 85, and even
short distances can feel long, especially when there’s snow. “That’s going to
pose real big problems for people like us in the suburbs.”
Room for Compromise
Not all boomers who want to
grow old in suburbia choose to stay in their multistory homes. Some are
downsizing to a smaller, one-story house, renting an apartment or buying a
condominium or townhouse in the burbs.
Many see giving up their
longtime homes to remain in their communities as a compromise they’re willing
to make.
That’s what Denny and Ruth
Laufenburger, of Chanhassen, Minnesota, a Minneapolis suburb where the singer
Prince lived, did two years ago. They sold their four-bedroom, four-bathroom
house of 20 years and moved to a single-level townhome in the same suburb.
“With the equity, we were
able to buy it mortgage-free,” said Denny Laufenburger, 66, the city’s mayor.
“We made a conscious decision to live here the rest of our lives.”
Laufenburger said he hated
giving up all of his “man tools” and rakes and lawnmowers and the big backyard
the couple loved. But he also enjoys the freedom of not having to worry about
mowing the lawn and shoveling snow.
“Grandma and grandpa’s home
is no longer Grand Central Station,” Laufenburger said. “Our kids are starting
to assume that role for planning, hosting and executing Mother’s Day, Father’s
Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas. That frees us to enjoy life a little bit
differently.”
And while many suburban
boomers scoff at the idea of moving into senior-only housing or assisted
living, the feeling isn’t universal.
Retirees Steve and Debbie
Cunningham, who live in a single-family home in Forest Lake, Minnesota — a far
St. Paul suburb — have put down a $500 deposit on an apartment in a continuing
care community in a closer-in suburb. The complex offers apartments for seniors
and assisted living for those who may need more care down the road.
The Cunninghams aren’t making
the move for another five years or so, but they wanted to be prepared.
“I understand wholly why
people want to stay in their homes as long as possible. They’re comfortable
with it. It’s like a cocoon,” said Steve Cunningham, 67.
“But the isolation that comes
when you’re not interacting with people and you’re not able to get around can
be debilitating and have a powerful effect on mental and emotional health.
We’ve seen how that worked with Debbie’s parents, and it wasn’t good.”
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