AS DEMAND TO AGE IN PLACE SOARS, SENIOR CITIZENS ARE SEEKING MORE WALKABILITY AND DIVERSE HOUSING TYPES

A TREND THAT ALSO SERVES PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES OF ALL AGES 

An advocate of the ADU since the 1980s, Jeff Speck, leader of Brookline, MA-based Speck Dempsey,  predicts exponential growth of them.

They are solution to affordable housing, aging in place and adding gentle density to neighborhoods already served by urban amenities.

 

AS DEMAND TO AGE IN PLACE SOARS, SENIOR CITIZENS ARE SEEKING MORE WALKABILITY AND DIVERSE HOUSING TYPES

A TREND THAT ALSO SERVES PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES OF ALL AGES

Jeff Speck, leader of Brookline, MA-based Speck Dempsey, notes the Naturally Occurring Retirement Community – places in hundreds of medium- and large-sized cities with a high concentration of older residents drawn to the conveniences that walkable urbanism provides.

“The walkable city is also the rollable city, and making it more rollable (for people with disabilities) makes it more walkable,” he said. 

 

AS DEMAND TO AGE IN PLACE SOARS, SENIOR CITIZENS ARE SEEKING MORE WALKABILITY AND DIVERSE HOUSING TYPES

A TREND THAT ALSO SERVES PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES OF ALL AGES

Jeff Speck leads Brookline, MA-based Speck Dempsey and is a planner who has authored several acclaimed books including Walkable City Rules: 101 Steps to Making Better Places.

“Older Americans seeking to relocate face an important choice when it comes to their next home: a suburban residential community or a walkable urban neighborhood.

Which one they chose will have a large impact on whether their daily lives are more sedentary and isolated, or more active, social, and fulfilling,”

Speck wrote in an article for AARP that pointedly details the shortcomings of the car-dependent, age-restricted community that is an anomaly of the second half of the 20th century.  

UNIVERSAL DESIGN IS MY PASSION

I AM HONORED TO COLLABORATE WITH IRIS PROPESCU,

A PH.D. ARCHITECT FOCUSED ON BUILDING INCLUSION

Iris Popescu, a Fulbright Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, interviewed me for 2 hours, covering my Universal Design work.

I hope to someday guest lecture at MIT with colleague Iris Popescu.

Her mission statement on her building inclusion work matches my passion for Universal Design.

"I am an architect specialised in inclusive design and a firm believer that in order to improve the built environment, reduce the inequalities and exclusion caused by it, we first need to change mentalities regarding accessibility, disability and human diversity." -- Iris Popescu, PHD Arch.

https://irispopescu.com

AS DEMAND TO AGE IN PLACE SOARS, SENIOR CITIZENS ARE SEEKING MORE WALKABILITY AND DIVERSE HOUSING TYPES

A TREND THAT ALSO SERVES PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES OF ALL AGES

Architect Julie Lineberger President of the Wilmington, VT-based Wheel Pad firm, is developing a stand-alone unit with a kitchen that would be about 300 square feet.

“Aside from family members bringing their loved ones into their own home with a Wheel Pad, there are additional uses,’’ she said.

“A couple who want to age in place in their own home is using Wheel Pad for a live-in aide (quarters).

Another is Wheel Pad as an ADU, renting it for additional income (that can cover the cost of adaptations to the main house, or personal care aides),” she said.

AS DEMAND TO AGE IN PLACE SOARS, SENIOR CITIZENS ARE SEEKING MORE WALKABILITY AND DIVERSE HOUSING TYPES

A TREND THAT ALSO SERVES PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES OF ALL AGES

Wheel Pad is a 200 square foot accessible bedroom and bathroom that can be attached to an existing home.

 The $75,000 portable unit provides temporary accessible housing for people with mobility issues, allowing friends or family in the main house to provide support to its tenant.

AS DEMAND TO AGE IN PLACE SOARS, SENIOR CITIZENS ARE SEEKING MORE WALKABILITY AND DIVERSE HOUSING TYPES

A TREND THAT ALSO SERVES PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES OF ALL AGES

David Morley, Research Program and QA Manager at the APA, said while not all areas are making it easy for ADUs, there seems to be a ground swell of “yes in my backyard for these, as opposed to the NIMBY.”

 

Morley said an increase in popularity has motivated firms to create pre-fab ADUs, including some made specifically with universal design to meet the needs of seniors and people with disabilities.