The “Silver Tsunami” of Baby Boomers is not knocking on the door of assisted living communities just yet and still has several years to go before they are. So how are senior living developers going to entice these folks to leave their homes?
A recent article in Senior Housing News noted that in a survey of 120 senior housing professionals, 87% of them responded that they are currently pursuing active adult apartment projects. They see the need for a stepping stone so to speak; getting seniors to leave their homes that are nowhere near ready to move into an Independent Living community much less an Assisted Living community. Seniors in this segment are still looking for active, vibrant lives and are not ready to see what the future looks like by living in communities where they would see just that.
If seniors can stay in place longer in these communities with the help of aging-in-place technology, home health, and non-medical home care, they certainly want to do so. Owners and operators are turning to a la carte strategy of care services as well which makes all kinds of sense to help their residents control costs and still get what they need.
The active adult is a smart play for developers to start an earlier pipeline into portfolios of IL and AL communities. Debt and equity sources seem to be very eager to be in this segment as it has been noted that stabilized active adult communities tend to be in the mid-’90s in occupancy percentage.
Don Diedrick
Director of Business Development
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