Expanding Housing Options for older people brought us lots of good news: great visions, dedicated people who care a lot and have been working their entire careers to make things better, new folks with new ideas. The bad news is the same as always: systems that don't quite work, inadequate policy, and lack of money.
One message came through loud and clear: get involved. Advocate politically.
Get involved in your neighborhood, county, state. If you want something good to happen, you've got to find others interested in the same thing, put your heads down, and push or pull until it gives.
We'll be exploring some ideas from the summit here over the next week or so. Some of us will be carrying on with the UWM School of Architecture and Urban Planning's Senior Housing Ideas Competition starting Wednesday.
Two ideas that people wanted to investigate were creating a "walking" forum for the diverse groups to get together, find out what we've got, and then tell the community about it. Another has to do with exploring fiscally sustainable programs, such as cooperative housing, for seniors.
Did you attend? Any ideas you'd like to talk about?
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2 comments:
I found the housing conference very informative & well-run. However, one pet peeve is that the aging community tend to see their needs as unique. But they aren't...many of the very same issues people face are the ones people with disabilities face.
Better access. Personal care assistance at home rather than being forced to move elsewhere. Better health care plans. Transportation when driving a car isn't possible. The list could go on and on.
So why aren't we seeing more of a joint advocacy effort on some issues?
Older people need to have more housing choices such as affordable assisted living.
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