The foundation of senior care in The United States today is the result of a law made in England and the early American colonies in 1601. It was known as the Elizabethan Poor Law and functioned to create a support system. This support system consisted of neighbors and law enforcement that would assist families that were no longer capable of helping their elderly relatives. Local parishes would deliver food and firewood when needed while the law enforcement aspect would fill in when others could not provide the service. The reason this worked so well was because few settlers survived to old age. Therefore, this system had no need to be large or efficient in functioning. During this time period there was no distinction of senior living, orphanages, and juvenile delinquent housing. At the time these populations lived together in communal “almshouses”. These places were a last resort and viewed as shameful. Alternative housing that was specifically for the elderly began to develop, however service was still limited and needed to expand to deal with the growing population. Lawmakers did not think that this was a pressing issue, so they pushed the pleas to the wayside. Looking forward to 1935 there are two federal acts that change the aging services drastically, the first being the Social Security Act. This new act guaranteed ordinary citizens minimal sustenance in their late life. This was a small assistance but gave the services for the elderly a push in the right direction. It wasn’t until the acts that came in 1965 that the services available for the elderly truly improved. The Older Americans Act, and then in that same year, Medicare and Medicaid began regulating the aging services, although funding was still low for (Achenbaum, 2014). The Older Americans Act gave states grants to develop age-related community planning. This helped develop a vast network that would inevitably lack funding due to the large and sustained population of elderly who need this assistance. In 1967 a new nursing home category was developed known as Intermediate Care Facilities. These facilities were designated for people who did not need intense nursing services but only custodial amenities. These facilities quickly became the average for nursing homes. Until 1970 these homes were not regulated effectively. This lax in regulation resulted in a great deal of homes getting shut down in the following years (seniorliving).
Early models of assisted living homes started to come about in 1981. A facility opened on the east coast that was built like a Victorian home. This facility had sleeping rooms for individuals, shared usage, and common spaces that were available like sitting rooms and dining rooms. These houses were built to provide a sense of community. Oregon’s first senior living home was designed for people needing care outside of their homes. Some residents were qualified for Medicaid, but many residents paid privately. This resulted in a newfound positive outlook towards nursing facilities. The following year the care homes wanted to renovate the facilities to have apartments. The facilities would then have kitchens and baths, more in line with senior housing. The required licensing was acquired, and these assisted living homes became the basis of the homes made now (Wilson, 2007).
The elderly population is projected to go from thirteen percent to twenty percent by 2030. In the near future the elderly is predicted to outnumber children for the first time in the United States history. Thanks to modern medicine, Americans are living to the retirement age and even several years past it. In the elderly population at least, eighty percent have one chronic condition, with many have two or more. This means more elderly are having to live in senior care facilities. This is great news for senior housing real estate and investments, as states are trying to reduce costs by using community-based services in the form of nursing homes (Comlossy, 2013). Whether the older population move into independent living, assisted living or need to go into memory care communities there will be a demand for more communities to open or expand. Some of these individual communities are on one single campus, called continued care retirement communities. These facilities allow for a seamless transition into each community as needed on an individual resident basis. Residents can have the independence they need and as they start to need more help they can move seamlessly into a more assisted space. This provides the quality of life the elderly deserve as they live out their retirement in comfort (seniorliving).
Sources:
Achenbaum, W. Andrew, Carr, L. Christian. (2014). A Brief History of Again Services in the United States. American Society on Aging. Retrieved from https://www.asaging.org/blog/brief-history-aging-services-united-states
Comlossy, Megan. Walden, Jacob. (December 2013). Sliver Tsunami. State Legislatures Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/silver-tsunami.aspx
https://www.seniorliving.org/history/1960-1969/
Wilson, Keren Brown. (December 2007). Historical Evolution of Assisted Living in the United States, 1979 to the Present, The Gerontologist, Volume 47, Issue suppl_1, 1. Pages 8–22. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/47.Supplement_1.8