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 Should you stay or should you go? That will be a key question in an
aging America, as people try to decide if their homes and
communities still work for them as they grow old.
A new online tool from AARP can help with answers. The free
Livability Index grades every neighborhood and city in the United
States on a zero-to-100 scale as a place to live when you are
getting older (http://bit.ly/1bLudgT).
There is no shortage of lists and rankings of places to live in
retirement. Many are superficial, measuring factors such as
sunshine, low tax rates or the number of golf courses. More
thoughtful studies reframe the question to consider quality-of-life
issues that affect everyone - affordability, health care, public
safety, public transportation, education and culture (See Reuters'
version at http://reut.rs/13Bcl4h).
The new AARP tool adds value by making it possible to score any
neighborhood and community in the country - and drill down into the
details. Just plug in an address to see how a location scores for
seven key attributes: housing, neighborhood, transportation,
environment, health, civic engagement and opportunity.
Overall, the highest-ranking large city is San Francisco with a
score of 66 and rose to the top due to its availability and cost of
public transportation, walkability and overall levels of health. The
top medium city is Madison, Wisconsin (68) and the top small town is
La Crosse, Wisconsin (70).
It is telling that even the top-ranked locations get just mediocre
scores. "The numbers are telling us that no community is perfect -
and most are far from perfect,” says Rodney Harrell, director of
livable communities at the AARP Public Policy Institute. "The goal
here is to provide a tool that helps people make their communities
better."
The timing is right for discussions to get under way about making
communities better places to age. The number of households headed by
someone age 70 or older will surge 42 percent by 2025, according to
the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. Most of
those households will be aging in place, not downsizing or moving to
retirement communities.
What exactly is aging in place? The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention defines it as "the ability to live in one's own home and
community safely, independently, and comfortably, regardless of age,
income or ability level."
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Of course, that definition does not oblige you to age in your
current place. The smart move is to assess your current location -
and make a move if necessary.
That is the plan recommended by gerontologist Stephen M. Golant in
his new book "Aging in the Right Place" (Health Professions Press,
February 2015).
He challenges the orthodoxy about aging in place, explaining why it
is not always realistic to stay where you are. In particular, he
makes the case that a home must get a cold-eyed assessment as a
financial asset, with an eye toward the cost of living in it
(mortgage, taxes and insurance) and any possible repairs or
remodeling that might be needed to adapt the home as you age.
But that can be a tall order, considering the emotional ties to
place that we all develop.
"It's one of the biggest issues people face, and they don't have a
lot of information about these issues," Harrell says. "People do
build emotional ties to friends and community, but they also need
information to help them make sound choices."
(Editing by Beth Pinsker and Cynthia Osterman)
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