Kid-Friendly Senior Housing: Meeting the Needs of Two Generations
An innovative housing project proposed for Milwaukee’s North Side will help grandparents who are caring for their grandchildren. With a price tag of $10 million, Villard Square would not be the first of its kind in this newest senior housing trend, following major metropolitan areas such as New York, Chicago and Boston. Chris Laurent of Gorman & Co. development firm states the project’s goal: placing children from broken homes into a stable environment.
Many of these children have been entrusted to their grandparent’s care because their parents are either in prison, battling drug addiction, or have other problems. According to the 2000 Census, approximately 7,052 Milwaukee grandparents found themselves in this challenging role. With these challenges in mind, developers are building in a number of on-site supportive services, such as parental counseling, to Villard Square.
New York City opened GrandParent Family Apartments in 2005, where 94 children (ranging from ages two to twenty) live with their 60-80 year-old grandparents. Older residents of this complex enjoy senior-friendly features like wide hallways and emergency pull-cords in their rooms, and on-site tutoring services and a playroom appeal to the children. Social workers are also available to work with the children and their grandparents, fostering better communication and supporting the entire family in this new arrangement.
The city of Milwaukee and others who have already developed projects such as these should be commended for their vision and their desire to meet a growing need in today’s society. While living in an apartment complex with hundreds of children in need of tutoring or social work interventions may not sound like the retirement of your dreams, it is nonetheless a harsh reality facing many seniors today. In my home state of Pennsylvania, several state lawmakers have sponsored legislation for a number of programs to assist these second-generation parents, who have many needs of their own and yet must attend to the needs of their children’s children.
I suspect that Villard Square and GrandParent Family Apartments may become the norm in the next decade, and I hope that other cities and towns will be sensitive to these new family arrangements and offer whatever support they can.
What are your thoughts about projects like Villard Square? Do you know someone who is raising their grandchildren? What kind of support do you feel that government or community organizations can and should provide? Share your comments here!
- Michelle Seitzer
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March 16th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
This sounds like a very useful service to provide so people can afford housing in a nice building with others in the same situation.
March 16th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
I like the idea. My suggestion is to get local universities to collaborate. Use students as volunteers for the tutoring. Perhaps involve the Psychology and Sociology departments to do some grant-based research work in an effort to create a model (in multi-generational living) that could be emulated around the country (as well as improving life for the residents).
March 16th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Dale, that is a wonderful idea. Thanks for the feedback!
March 16th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
[...] those grandparents who are caring for their grandchildren, take note of a growing trend: housing developments designed for seniors who have been entrusted with custody of their grandchildre… Back in 2005, New York City opened GrandParent Family Apartments, where 94 children (ranging from [...]
March 17th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
These are great ideas. I’ve seen several articles lately about children and young teens living with grandparents AND parents who are in the early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. I suspect that with people living longer, as well as many mothers having children older, those situations will be increasing. Something like this might be a help to those families as well.
March 27th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Very good point, Kaye. I agree, it would be a help to families in those situations…makes a lot of sense. Thanks so much for all the feedback that you provide for the blog posts. It’s much appreciated!