Intergenerational housing growing in popularity
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
This is so smart - I really like the idea of intergenerational housing developments - so that grandparents can live close enough to be convenient, but still independently so that everyone has their own space when they need it.
I’ve been trying to get my grandparents to move back to the Denver Metro area for a while now. I think it would be so nice to have them around the corner rather than a 3-hour drive away. I want my kids to be able to hang out with them on a really regular basis, not just get dressed up to go to grandma’s only on Christmas Eve and Easter!
This article in today’s USA Today tells me I’m not the only one…
These “multigenerational” communities stop short of putting several generations under one roof, the way many families lived in earlier times. Instead, they build close but separate sections for active adults, families and younger couples: one-story houses and golf courses down the street from larger, single-family homes near playgrounds and schools.
“They are close but not too close,” says Jimmy Dundon, 38, of his in-laws. “It’s easier getting together for Sunday dinners, birthdays and holidays. … It’s much easier for babysitting.”
The emerging niche for home buyers and builders has roots from long ago.
“This is historically how we lived 200 years ago or even 100 years ago,” says Sherry Ahrentzen, an architectural researcher at Arizona State University. “It’s just sort of coming back because of demographics, the transportation crunch and taking care of kids.”
Germany, a nation like many others in Europe struggling with an aging population and low fertility, has turned to multigenerational developments to help support the elderly. Older people live next to young families who are not necessarily related to them. The two groups often help each other out.
In the USA, longer life spans and delayed childbirth create more multigenerational families. Housing for them is particularly popular with large subdivision developers who appeal to more affluent buyers.
Pulte Homes’ Del Webb, a developer best known for its “Sun City” communities for people 55 and older, has launched “Anthem” communities for all ages in Arizona, Nevada and Colorado. It also is building parts of similar housing clusters in North Carolina and Florida. Anthem at Merrill Ranch, southeast of Phoenix, is the first such development to include a Sun City section.
“Living closer to your loved ones, your family, your parents, your sisters, your aunts and uncles has been more important since 9/11, frankly,” says Jacque Petroulakis, a public affairs director for Pulte Homes and Del Webb.
Read the whole article here.
This entry is filed under Real Estate News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.