Would you live in an age segregated building or neighborhood?

Do you think it would work well? Would turn-over be a problem? Or are there anti-discrimination laws that would get in the way?

I remember my college days and how well it seemed to work when all of your neighbors were the same age and it was easy making new friends or talking to them. Now in my neighborhood you have couples who just had two babies, the older couple, a few families, two immigrant families, and it just seems like everyone just goes to work and stays indoors the rest of the time.

There are plenty of 55+ places to live, and the 'active living' thing comes back. There are groups of people to do stuff with, you don't have to travel far, and there should be more of a friendly dynamic that seems to be missing in the suburbs.

Should there be a 40 and younger, no kid neighborhood or building in your city...30 and under? Would you want to live there? What about a 30-50 family neighborhood. Have you considered living in one of the 55+ places when you retire?

 

With the aging baby boomers, by 2020 there will be twice as many seniors over 65 yrs old as there were in 2000 and as they get into their 70s and 80s, they will need somewhere affordable to live, particularly those on low fixed incomes. Many wont be able to afford the so-called "retirement communities".

More communities are permitting multi-person occupancies in single family homes (the Golden Girls) and I would much rather have a group of seniors sharing the house next door or in the neighborhood than a group of twentysomethings.

And, "granny-pods" are on the rise -- small prefab single person housing units that a family can add to their home or backyard for an aging parent. It doesnt disrupt the family or change the family dynamic with an aging parent always around the house and it provides independence and security for the senior.

But segregating seniors beyond that, particularly active and/or relatively healthy seniors, is a bad idea.

 

I take it that you aren't in your 20s, so in an age segregated neighborhood, you wouldn't have to worry about the all night parties that the 20 somethings would be able to throw if their neighbors were into it too.

Seniors have these options in a lot of places. There is Sun City, AZ where you have to be over 55 to own property there. 20 and 30 somethings can have roommates in the big cities, but apartment complexes in college towns aren't always filled with childless 20-30 year olds. The last time I was in a dorm with similar aged people was when I was 20 and it was good, but could have been even better now that I have grown up a little more.

I live in a semi-military town, so I see 'forced' moves all the time, it isn't really that bad. Home prices aren't the biggest thing here, and if you do it right, there should be a long list of people who want to live in your little 'commune'.

 

Senior housing options are defined by retirement income and relative health. The Sun City model is not an option for many (most).

But I still dont understand why you would want to segregate seniors.

 

I'm 60 and I would hate to be in a community of seniors. A diverse population of various ages would be far more interesting to me. That is as long as I can live independent. Once you reach the need for assisted living, then all of your neighbors are of similar age. My mother in law was in assisted living for her last two years. She loved it but it also had a very dark downside. People die. All the time. Once you're in there, that's the most common way out. Kind of tough when your neighbors are all dying off. In a community of diverse ages, death of a neighbor happens very infrequently.

 

I wouldn't live in any kind of segregated community. Diversity is interesting.

 

So all of this because you miss living in a dorm?

 

I prefer no neighbors or ones that are far enough away that age is irrelevant. I'm not going to fit in well with most age groups. My eating and sleeping habits fit in with the AARP crowd. Given that I'm 57, that's fair enough. I can ski most 30 year olds into the ground, ride my motorcycle too fast, and still chase the wife around the house naked. "Turn that f'ing music down" is more likely to be directed at me, than from me. That said, doing any of the above 2 days in a row, isn't as easy as it used to be. I'm likely to be whining about aches and pains the day after.

I have friends and neighbors of all ages, lack of diversity would bore me.

 

When you are younger, it would be nice to live in an apartment complex where you could have the occasional party that gets a bit loud without having the 60 yr old calling the cops.

When you are older, it would be nice to live someplace where your 20-30 something neighbors don't have the occasional loud party that is only dying down around 1am...

In an apartment complex - it could work... If they organized it just so. Maybe if you were able to fill out a questionnaire about your likes/dislikes etc. That almost brings a matchmaking quality to apartment living. I don't think it would work in the long run for the complex's bottom line though.

 

I think dorm life was supposed to end when you moved out of the dorm. Harsh reality.
--- merged: Apr 29, 2013 5:31 PM ---
I say that as a joke, but really, when you think about it what sort of implications might we have if all kids coming out of college were to suspend adulthood for another 10 years or so and live in a perpetual limbo space 'among their own kind?' It's kind of creepy.

 

It isn't only about seniors, it isn't about them very much really. I used them as an example of it already being done.

A little bit is the college/dorm life thing would be nice to continue for a few years after you get your first job or move to a new city. Second would be that a lot of 20 somethings are poor, but don't fit in with the low-income people. And some of this is because I just visited San Francisco, and you know what you are going to get if you move into some neighborhoods. So maybe like genuinegirly said, it isn't just about age, but lifestyle (hipster, tech, gay, hippie, start-up business, financial, upper class, etc...) is easier to organize around if people are all in one neighborhood.

 

I think too many people already navigate to communities where they feel they will "fit in." Couples with young children tend to want to live in neighborhoods with other couples with children. Religiously focused families seek out communities with other like-minded families. Realtors actually use this sort of demographic profiling as a selling point. I would never see a need to force this upon anyone (if that's what you're talking about)

I like age, race and culture diversity and would not want to be forced into let's say a retirement community unless the community was an assisted living one where medical personnel were on call and I or my husband needed that sort of thing.

Finding reasons to separate ourselves from those who are "not like us" is easy but unrewarding in the long term.

 

I have no desire to be segregated with people my own age. After all, it would rob me of a time-honored tradition of old codgers...

 

Eh, too much pressure to conform and that kind of ghettoization is limiting.

I like that my street has lots of young families with kids similar ages to ours for all the reasons you can imagine. But I also like that there are seniors and older folks who fill the "grandparent" and overseer roles on the street.