How to solve the boomer retirement crisis

[marmar]

from Salon.com:



How to solve the boomer retirement crisis
If boomer retirees keep flooding suburbs, the cost of providing for them soars. Can we get them to cities, instead?

By Will Doig


Retirees get blamed for all sorts of problems: sucking up too much Social Security, adding to the healthcare crisis, writing out checks at the supermarket.

Just as critical, however, is the fact that the baby boomers, retiring at a clip of 10,000 a day, are hunkering down way out in the suburbs — and sometimes much farther afield.

“You’ve got this whole generation that moved to the suburbs thanks to government subsidies,” says Howard Gleckman, author of “Caring for Our Parents” and a fellow at the Urban Institute. “They got tax breaks for moving there and now they’re staying.” Even city-dwelling boomers — up to 65 percent of them — head for the land of the lawns once the kids move out.

As they have every right to. But a census-busting generation growing unprecedentedly old while scattered so wide will make caring for aging boomers vastly more complicated. Yet rather than incentivize the next generation of seniors to move to urban areas — where transit, services and walkable neighborhoods abound — an array of factors actually discourage them from doing so. How do we fix this? ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.salon.com/2012/02/18/how_to_solve_the_boomer_retirement_crisis/singleton/

[leftofcool]

1. No thanks

WE don't want to live in the cities. Most of us boomers like having our little acreages, growing our own food, fishing in our lakes and ponds, watching the sun come up and go down, taking long walks in the woods, chopping our own wood for our stoves and woodburners, and playing with our grandkids. Now, take your cities and go away.

Left of Cool

[newfie11]

2. Our farm is 6 miles out of town

If the day comes that I cannot or should not drive I can call the "handy bus". It is 6 dollars for me to go into town, do my shopping, and 6 dollars home. Works for me. Why would I want to live in a city with all the mugging, killings, etc going on. No thanks. Also I do not consider SS a government subsidy. I paid into that for many many years.

[Morning Dew]

12. The "handy bus" can be a blessing - it's also probably subsidized by your county/state/fed govt -

and that's a good use of tax dollars, IMO .

The six dollar fare is likely only a third (or less) of the actual cost of providing the service.

[newfie11]

17. yes it is n/t

[customerserviceguy]

3. Big cities are for young people

Spry enough to dodge traffic, with good enough vision to look out for other dangers, and enough muscle strength to hike necessities up several flights of stairs. If we're going to herd seniors into urban projects, we might as well go straight for the soylent factories.

[pecwae]

4. I live rurally

and will die rurally. I've never cared for urban or suburban living and that will never change.

[liberal N proud]

5. When I grow old, I want out of the suburb, BUT...

I sure as hell will not want to live in the CITY!

[xchrom]

6. I love urban living.

It's so convenient and I love that the grocery store and the ballet are within easy distance.

[jamestom]

19. keep them unhip folks off my block

i agree and love the city living. and if everyone wanted to live here, it would be even more too expensive.

so get the word out that city living is dangerous and dirty and noisy and expensive and frustrating and ungreen (oops my car is a zipcar!)

it is nice to take a country drive during autumn to see the leaf colors.

[IADEMO2004]

7. Worst thing I have read in a long time.

Cities are ugly, colder in winter, hotter in summer, and expensive.

[zipplewrath]

8. It might need to be better written

But I think it needs to be re-read. First, it is agreeing with many of you in that urban areas aren't welcoming to the target populaton they are discussing, for many of the reason being mentioned here. Cost of living, crime, and the "ugliness" are all mentioned.

I also think they article poorly described the target population as well. The services and infrastructure they are discussing predominately are for folks who are probably in the last 5 years of life or so. People with severe mobility issues mostly. There is some allusion as well to people who are otherwise isolated. The mention the concept of the city as a "large assisted living facility". That's a pretty "old" population. They're not really talking about the folks still driving, and hitting the links 3 times a week. They're talking about the folks that have lost their drivers license, need regular and frequent visits to multiple health care providers, and probably have vision and mobility issues. They are also probably "alone" in any real sense, widows and widowers with children at large distances.

Roughly speaking they are discussing someone who is either going to be living with their children, or in a facility. They could be vastly more independent, and still engaged with their communities, if the infrastructure of Urban areas was more sensitive to their specific needs.

[supernova]

13. The article could be split in two

There are really two kinds of older people, if you will. Those who are mobile and those who aren't.

Yes there are plenty of fit older people who are still running around, seeing friends, working, volunteering, being with the family, getting out and about to movies, shops and restaurants. If they're single, maybe they date. Perhaps they still get on a plane. Let's call these folks Spring Chickens just for this exercise.

Then there are the folks who need assistance. They no longer drive. Maybe they need a daily check-in from a nurse. Perhaps they need someone to come over and do laundry, fix lunch, and make sure they've taken their meds. Or they need help getting up, bathed and dressed in the morning. They need to be driven to drs appointments and the grocery store. They need any combo of these services. Let's call these folks Cooped Hens/Roosters.

Spring Chickens can live in any landscape. Getting around isn't an issue. Personal drive, taste, and available resources all come into play here. Lots of folks get tired of shoveling snow. So I hear. And they move further south if they have the means. Some folks love the urban landscape. Depending on the neighborhood you can walk to restaurants, museums, and shops. No yard to take care of if you get a condo or apt. No yardwork can be a big selling point with some people.

Cooped Hens/Roosters OTOH are pretty much stuck where they are unless they get help like I mentioned, OR they can live in a mixed urban environment where services can be better aggregated.

What the article points to but doesn't spell out well, is the benefits that come with deliberate urban planning for mixed use neighborhoods. A home-visit nurse can see more people during the day in town, than s/he can if patients are more spread out in the county. She will use less gas too or perhaps take mass transit. A person who needs help with laundry might still enjoy taking a walk to the grocery store to buy a few items if it's only a few blocks away and there are park benches along the way. They might still get out to a movie or take the grandkids to the park too.

Again I have to praise Europe, because that's what I've personally seen. Large European cities are really collections of smaller neighborhoods, each having its own little shops, restaurants, dry cleaners, parks. You can get the necessities of life all in your own neighborhood, IOW. There was some of this in the older parts of Baltimore, that I witnessed. I'm sure parts of New York City are like this too, but I don't know.

We've done away with this aspect of urban life here in the US to a large degree. Just look at downtown Charlotte. It's a desert after 5:00pm and on weekends. There is no reason to hang around downtown. There are things to do, but live there? Not so much. We've zoned ourselves to death. The people live way out here in the development on the edge of town. The office park everyone in the development commutes to is on the other side of town. The big box store and other chain stores everyone shops at is next to the development on an equally outsized piece of land that you have to drive to.

I live in a rural area, but if I could move to an urban setting where things I need are just a walk or short mass transit commute away, I could be persuaded to move to town as I got older and needed more services.

Bottom Line: Cooped Hens/Roosters might behave more like Spring Chickens if their environment were more amenable to living life without a car.

[zipplewrath]

14. Dead on

NYC should be a retirees paradise, except for the cost of living, and maybe the weather. But especially the island of Manhattan, it is really a collection of very compact communities, each with grocers and deli's and cleaners.....

The point of the article was towards your "Cooped" category, but potentially trying to be more attractive to the Spring Chickens as well. At the end of the day, a decent urban environment should be attractive to ages well down the scale too. But the things that tend to drive out families and young professionals also tend to keep them away as they age. Too costly, too congested, and too much "crime" (from the petty graffiti and vandalism to robbery and burglary).

[magical thyme]

9. haven't read the article, but unless it includes

selling our suburban or semi-rural homes at pre-depression prices, it ain't happening.

And in my case, I'd just move further afield. One or two of my neighbors are still too close for comfort...

[LiberalEsto]

10. They COULD push us onto ice floes

but pretty soon all the Arctic ice will be gone.
Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

[DURHAM D]

11. Someone has a theory looking for a problem...

They lost me at this "moved to the suburbs thanks to government subsidies". What does that even mean?

Also, they have assigned the post WW II changes in housing trends of the "Greatest Generation" to Boomers.

silly

[philly_bob]

15. Surprised at the hostility to this article. I like city!

Four years ago, the wife and I moved from the far suburbs to a center city co-op. We love the location, culture, medical care, restaurants, etc. I walk everywhere. Wife is a bit less mobile than I am, she takes a lot of $7 cab drives and bus rides.

Of course, there were some economic issues that may make our case unique: (1) we were able to find a good renter for our suburban house, (2) we were able to find a place in a relatively low-priced co-operative in a great location, (3) our deal was so good that we were able to convince four friends to move into the same building so we can grow old together.(4) bus fare is free for seniors in Philadelphia, (5) we're childless.

In addition, I was able to get more involved when Occupy came along, since it was based in Center City.

Your circumstances may be different, but I feel safer and less isolated in the city.

[supernova]

16. Wonderful for you!

That's the kind of urban life I was describing. And I think it's wonderful that you have your friends in the same building.

[xchrom]

20. I've had experience w/ urban & rural & suburban life.

I never wanted much to do w/ the rural world.

I want easy access to activity & people of variety.

Being gay & growing up part time in Peoria was horrifying. It's neither rural or suburban - but it was awful.

Where I am now, I can walk to my fav locations, both the dr. & the hospital are minutes away, my friends are as close as across the street or around the corner.

[Doctor_J]

18. Medicare for all

Have the healthy 20-somethings join the national health insurance plan, raise the SS cap to $150K, case closed. I know that people like the author get paid to think up outside-the-box solutions, but Occum's razor is usually an excellent place to start.