The answer may seem simple, but as you look deeper, there is a quagmire of questions and reasons both for and against integrating a business plan for aging in place within your community.
A Frightening Statistic…
By Jessica Towles, CMCA, AMS, PCAM Lieberman Management Services, Inc.
According to PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America) social isolation and loneliness causes increased mortality rates in men and women over the age of 52. How many of us are currently over the age of 52? Of those, how many of us would like to live longer than the age of 52? That’s a scary statistic. Social isolation leads to an increase in cardiovascular disease, infection illness, and cognitive deterioration. How many of us know of or have a loved one battling dementia or Alzheimer’s? Being around other people and having day to day conversations and interactions can help people live longer lives.
Back to the question – Why? Speaking purely from a business standpoint, why should community associations care about aging in place? Who will benefit? Why should we get involved in our residents’ day to day lives? It starts in the name – we are managers of common interest communities. Boards are elected to serve on behalf of those common interest community members. The key word being community. When you go back to the CAI M:100 Essentials of Community Association Management workbook and look for the three primary purposes of a common interest community association they are: Community, Business and Governance. That word is stressed over and over again in everything because it all comes back to community.
Do you remember the days when you were a child and your parents may have had a disagreement with a neighbor, or maybe they saw a neighbor struggling? What did they do? If they were anything like many parents, they probably made a casserole, took it over, and asked if the neighbor needed help. This doesn’t mean we have to start baking cookies for the whole neighborhood, or become the association therapist. There are small steps any community or resident can take to help benefit those members who are aging in place, or to help benefit other owners within a NORC.
Inclusionary Management Benefits for families, benefits for older residents…
Specifically, the federal government defined NORCs under Title IV of the Older Americans Act as communities in which “40 percent of the heads of households are older individuals” (U.S. Congress Senate, 2006). However, as a manager of a common interest community association, you may find a need to modify your management style, services and/or amenities when that percentage is as low as 20. The question most commonly asked by boards and associations is: Why?
As a community association manager, or a board member it is important to keep in mind that we don’t create rules that only benefit one group of members. When you are creating a committee or group intended to help aging residents, it is important to also weigh the needs of younger owners and residents. Often, services that help one age group overlap and help the other!
Create a committee or commission within your association that is geared toward civic minded volunteerism. It doesn’t have to be solely geared towards the aging residents;
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