A new report being published by Generations United and co-authored by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard’s Housing an Aging Society Program and the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston promotes strategies and recommendations for intergenerational housing models.
According to JCHS, there are several ways to address challenges to creating intergenerational housing, and the Blueprint identifies four pathways:
- Building evidence for the benefits of intergenerational living, and in particular how it affects residents’ health and satisfaction. For older adults, a key metric is whether these settings extend functional ability and capacity to live in the community, and if so, through what mechanisms.
- Expanding awareness of these models among the general public and in policy conversations about affordable housing and economic security for all ages. In addition, market research is needed about intergenerational living; it is a model that will not suit everyone, but given the relatively small number of opportunities today, it is likely that many who might pursue these types of settings are not aware they exist or are possible.
- Advancing policy and financing tools that support intergenerational communities. This might involve the development of new programs that incentivize or help to pay for these settings, that better align programs that subsidize housing with those that subsidize services, or that remove regulatory or programmatic barriers (e.g., zoning barriers, requirements of subsidy programs that can make mixed-age housing difficult).
- Sharing lessons learned from existing communities about financing and design, operations, and sustaining both individuals and the entire community over time, as children grow up and older adults might need increasing levels of support, and as residents come and go over the years.
More information is available in this blog post from JCHS and the full report will be released later this week from Generations United.