Have you considered all things around your home, both inside and outside?

Yesterday I was about to start writing my series of posts describing how, room-by-room, Universal Design makes homes livable for a lifetime when I had the most exasperating phone call. I was attempting, obviously unsuccessfully, to describe the importance of considering UD components NOW before problems arise when the person skeptically and somewhat sarcastically cut me off mid-sentence, “So that’s great, you help OLD people stay in their homes.” NO, all people! I wanted to shout but didn’t. Recycling houses isn’t about waiting until the last minute.

After ending the fruitless conversation, I thought, “That person totally didn’t get it”. It’s so ingrained in people’s minds the assumption that an owner or tenant must eventually adapt to their housing (i.e. move or stop using areas of the home) rather than modify the house to suit their circumstances. Even better, design and BUILD the house so anyone can visit or remain independent, safe and comfortable regardless of age, income or ability.

So while reviewing what went wrong during the call and why I failed to express myself, I decided to postpone describing specific UD solutions in the home until defining concretely what’s meant by aging-in-place. I’ll start by describing what it’s NOT, aging-in-place isn’t DYING-in-place. That would be a nursing home.

Aging-in-place means remaining in one’s CURRENT home safely and comfortably throughout multiple life stages and circumstances. Imagine suffering a sports injury and being on crutches, could you get upstairs or take a shower? How would you get into and out of bed if you were in a wheelchair? How much fun is it carrying luggage into your home? These hassles don’t necessarily have anything to do with a person’s age, yet typical building code sows a harvest of inconvenience and obstacles.

Then again, nobody is getting any younger and it’s demographic fact that our population of people over 65 will double over the next decade. National Public Radio ran a four-part series during their afternoon broadcast All Things Considered which concluded with “Building Homes to Age In”. You can access Jennifer Ludden’s series through that link, including this interactive tour of a home designed with UD features. Notice the convenience for anyone of any age and that the purposeful design is not noticeable!

I’ll conclude with personal finance and law. Everyone has to live somewhere and assisted and related health care costs continue higher so planning financially will happen sooner or later. Toward that end, localities and states realize the costs associated with the coming Age Wave and are already incentivizing residents, with tax breaks and fewer regulatory restrictions, to help themselves to relieve the crush on social services. Two new laws took effect in July pertaining to Universal Design including this one requiring Virginia’s Department of Aging to develop guidelines.

So Universal Design isn’t “just for old people”, you’ll save more money planning now and every single one of us is aging-in-place so why wouldn’t we build houses that enable us to stay put no matter our personal circumstances?