NAIPC® News
April 14, 2014

• The Graying of America
• How to Make a Difference in Your Community
• Expansion of Home and Community Based Service Programs
• Senators Request Funding Increase for Older Americans Act
• Upcoming Events

The newest generation is the oldest generation. Take heed, young whippersnappers. The Gray Revolution is upon us.

All you have to do is sit through a night of commercial television, and you can’t help but see that spots once filled with beers and cars are now selling retirement and physical enhancement products. And this year’s list of best picture Oscar nominees included “Philomena” and “Nebraska,” movies that would never have found financing just a few years ago.

For the first time in our history, the over-60 sector will be the single largest sector of the American population. Markets are shaped by money. And the senior consumer is becoming the surest bet.

Politics is also about to feel the effect. The over-60's have always voted in far greater numbers than any other age group. And now they’re the largest age group. Candidates, ignore them at your own peril!

So, if you’re business serves seniors, you are in the right place at the right time. (Finally, you say, and who can blame you.) What you need to do, like all those financial services and pharmaceutical companies, is let them know you exist.

Of course, as a small business owner, you don’t have the means to spread your message like large corporations can. And that’s what the National Aging in Place Council is all about.

Aging in Place has become a much more familiar term amongst the general public over the past few years. Almost everyone has heard it. But ask them what it means? What it encompasses? How do you age in place?

By banding together, we can tell that story that we can’t tell individually.

• How to encourage more senior housing in your community
• Establishing a National Retirement Concierge Program
• Filling the caregiving gap with professionals and family
• How to build relationships with Villages and other senior communities

The numbers are staggering: the number 65+ of adults will more than double to 88 million in the next 35 years; 19 million of that 88 million will be 85+; the average annual cost of a nursing home room in the U.S. in 2012 was $81,030; and the average annual cost of a private room in an assisted living facility was $42,600.

So what’s the solution? There’s no easy answer to that question. However, a recent report from the Center for Housing Policy provides an overview of various models of home- and community-based supportive service programs that are currently in place across the country.

These models, while all different in design, share the same core: linking seniors with the supportive services that they need. Each tailored to the characteristics of the neighborhoods and the specific needs of the seniors in their respective communities, these models provide crucial aging in place services to the seniors who need them.

Funding these models, however, continues to be a major constraint. These initiatives are funded predominantly by community programs, philanthropic donations, and government grants, all sources that tend to dry up during difficult economic times.

However, the report stresses the importance of carefully tracking and evaluating initiatives like these. Replicating these models on a larger scale and gathering data on their success could demonstrate the benefits of these programs and the ways that these programs can potentially offset the costs of family finances, healthcare, and housing.

To read the full report, click here.