The Stealth Retirement Community

[xchrom]

http://www.smartmoney.com/retirement/planning/the-stealth-retirement-community-1305320334195/

Forget the Springfield Retirement Castle. With no desire to leave their homes, a growing number of older Americans are banding together to create retirement communities in their existing neighborhoods. Better yet, many are finding governments and non-profits willing to provide many of the same services retirement homes charge thousands for.

There's a name for these new pockets of gray: naturally-occurring retirement communities (or NORCs, as they're known among jargon-happy researchers). The definition is vague a report by the Congressional Research Service says they're "communities with a large proportion of older persons residing within a specified geographic area," which could mean anything from a zip code to an apartment building.

And while these communities have been around for decades, they're proliferating with the aging baby boom. Official data are spotty communities have only just started to identify themselves this way but about one in three Americans over 50 lives in a community that could qualify, according to an AARP survey. There are still less than 100 of these communities that get government funding for programs to support residents (things like free health care or low-cost continuing education courses), but even that number has grown sixfold since the mid-1990s. What's more, "the aging population will likely lead to a rapid increase in the number of NORCs in the coming years," says John Migliaccio, the director of research for the MetLife Mature Market Institute.

As a phenomenon, these new communities are a result of changing demographics, market forces and boomer individuality. In 2009, one in every eight people -- roughly 13% of the population -- was 65 or older and roughly 10,000 people will turn 65 each day for the next 18.5 years. Meanwhile, the housing market is still depressed, leaving some homeowners unable to sell, and others unwilling. Still more Americans don't have the money to move, and some just don't want to: More than three out of four people 45 and older say they have a strong desire to stay in their home for as long as possible, a 2010 AARP study found.

[ananda]

1. That is pretty cool.

nt

[xchrom]

2. i think the idea sounds interesting.

plus you can do it with hopefully like minded people.

[Fridays Child]

3. k/r