Published May 2003

Senior-housing demand grows as population ages

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

The aging population hasn’t gone unnoticed by the housing industry.

According to an article in American Home Guides' Homebuilding News, “Significant Findings in Housing America’s Seniors,” a skyrocketing senior population, living longer and healthier, presents “new opportunities and challenges to the housing market.”

The article goes on to say that by 2025, some 10 percent of each state’s population will be older than 65. Citing research from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, it points out that a handful of states, including Washington, will outpace that national rate.

Locally, that signals a growing demand for senior housing.

At Senior Services of Snohomish County, which oversees more than a dozen affordable-housing senior apartment buildings, there are resident waiting lists of up to two years for some developments, Executive Director Chris Wolfe said.

“I think we’re just beginning to see the bubble. The real impact is going to come in the next 10 years, when baby boomers are going to retire, then it’s going to become critical,” Wolfe said.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, residents aged 55 and older made up 16.8 percent of the county’s population in 2000. Those aged 45 to 54 made up 14.3 percent of the population. Together, that is almost a third of the population either entering retirement or the “empty nest” phase of their lives within the next decade.

And across the county, developments have been springing up to meet the present and future demand, from retirement communities to condominium projects.

In north county, for example, Warm Beach Senior Community recently announced plans to expand its continuing-care retirement complex to include 64 single-level townhomes and 36 apartment units for those aged 62 and older.

Called SoundView, the $26 million project south of Stanwood will feature a new 13,000-square-foot community center, complete with a restaurant-style dining room, craft room, multipurpose room and lounge, said Executive Director Dave Fairchild.

Along with meeting a demand for senior housing that enables seniors to stay in one community even as they require more care, Warm Beach’s new addition will attract seniors in the upper-middle-income range, Fairchild said. Entrance fees for SoundView will range from $160,000 to $260,000, compared to entrance fees of $30,000 to $85,000 for Warm Beach’s other housing options, he said.

“We’re probably the only HUD (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) facility that also has housing on the same campus that is non-HUD. ... Warm Beach will (offer) low-income housing to upper-middle income,” Fairchild said.

SoundView, which is expected to break ground next spring, already has garnered inter-est — and 26 sales, he said.

Other area developments aimed at the empty nester and senior population also have been met with interest. Village Commons, a proposed 54-unit, upscale condominium complex east of Stanwood has yet to break ground but has already received a dozen reservations, according to officials at Lindstrom Development Group.

Although not a retirement community, the proposed development, to be located near a supermarket, movie theater, assisted-living center and other businesses, offers convenience for an older population, which Lindstrom plans to market to.

And Shannon Glen, a Marysville neighborhood of 24 single-story “stand-alone condos” designed for seniors 55 and older, has enticed several sales since opening this spring, said Jim Mulligan of Emerald Real Estate Development Inc.

“It’s just the baby boomers aging — the reason that we have so many more seniors now seeking housing,” said Karen Smaalders, communications director for the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties. “Seniors are way more active than they were 50 years ago, so builders are starting to look at a different type of lifestyle for these seniors.”

To address the housing needs of an aging population, the National Association of Home Builders, with whom the Master Builders are affiliated, has developed a program with the AARP to train builders and remodelers on construction techniques for senior housing, Smaalders said.

Called a Certified Aging in Place Specialist, or CAPS, a builder who has gone through the program learns about lighting needs of seniors, safety features for bathrooms and wheelchair accessibility issues, from cabinetry heights to wider doorways.

It’s a relatively new certification, but one that serves a great need, Smaalders said, noting that senior housing is the fastest-growing segment in residential remodeling.

Chuck Russell of Woodinville-based Westhill Inc., a custom builder and remodeler, has a simple explanation for the demand: “People want to stay in their own home.”

“Part of this is due to the baby-boom generation. There’s just so many of us that as we start moving toward different phases of our life, we’re going to have to have a place to go. And that place ideally is to stay in our own homes,” said Russell.

One of the first 50 to be certified in CAPS nationwide, Russell said there are about 200 CAPS builders and remodelers who work not only with seniors, but with younger people looking ahead to their future.

“We use it a lot with our current customers who are families, young couples with children. If they are planning on staying in their home, there might be some things we can do now, using framework that would allow for changes to be made in the future. ... They can take it from age to age as necessary,” he said.

Related: Stanwood condos aimed at seniors, empty-nesters

Related: Shannon Glen designed for 55-and-older crowd

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