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Introduction

Aging is not an easy process, especially when you have to do it alone. Housing is an important source of continuity in the lives of most middle aged and older people. When a person decides to age in place, they prefer to age in there own home, mainly because this is where they feel most safe and comfortable. Although this is what is preferred, it's not always feasible. To speak in the ideal sense, housing choices are made to match the middle-aged and older lifestyle preferences but at the same time acknowledge and accommodate constraints stemming from changes in income, marital status, or functional status. After age 33, Americans do not change residence often, partly because of the feeling of comfort and ease that comes with living in a familiar environment. Over 90% of older people live in fully independent housing such as detached single-family homes, duplexes, condominiums, manufactured homes, or apartments, semi-independent housing consists of fully independent housing units in which the residents have access to support services. ...read more.

Middle

If a disability does occur, the house can become an obstacle course rather than a comfortable home (Null and Cherry, 1998). One of the most difficult problems is developing humane procedures for dealing with residents who become disabled to the point of no longer meeting the facility's requirements for independent or semi-independent living. To help better explain, I will use York houses in Philadelphia for example. This establishment developed in the 1960's, was initially where residents were generally independent. As the residents got older, their needs for assistance increased. Eventually, the average level of functioning among the residents declined, the facilities attracted fewer fully independent older people. In all in all, housing for middle aged needs more attention, the elderly need attention in this department more than ever. The large variety of housing options for elders includes free-standing homes, manufactured homes and etc. But despite this vast array of possibilities, most middle-and low income elders find their housing choices limited. ...read more.

Conclusion

Built environment professionals need to design houses that will allow aging in place or develop solutions that can be applied to existing houses to make them user friendly as the homeowners age. 3. Berger, S. (2002): Berger discusses the accommodations made to suite the elderly once moving from their homes. Their needs to be a universal design when building homes. Universal design simply means that the houses where individuals and families live and the products they use are designed to accommodate people of all physical abilities, not just elderly or disable persons. Incorporating these design features into the everyday living environment would make living easier for all persons in the house, both present and future. Questions: 1. What modifications are going to be made to suite the elderly once they decide to move from their homes and in to assisted living facilities. 2. Being that the elderly prefer to age in their homes and their homes are not suitable for living, why can't their be contractors to come in and do the necessary work? ...read more.

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