Is Senior Housing Affordable?

<p>When we talk about affordable housing, the conversation usually centers on two groups of people. We talk about low-income families struggling to pay the rent, and young adults who cannot afford to purchase their first home.</p><p>But there&#39;s another demographic that rarely receives the same attention. It&#39;s a demographic that&#39;s growing rapidly, and one where the affordability challenge becomes more complicated with each passing year.</p><p>I&#39;m talking about seniors.</p><p>We are owners and developers of senior housing, including assisted living and memory care facilities. One of our facilities charges approximately $8,000 per resident per month.</p><p>Clearly, at that price point, we&#39;re not talking about affordable housing in the conventional sense.</p><p>But here&#39;s something important that often gets lost in the discussion about senior housing affordability.</p><p><strong>The building itself is not the primary reason the monthly fee is $8,000. The lion&#39;s share of that expense is the cost of providing services.</strong></p><p>We&#39;re talking about around-the-clock staffing, personal assistance, meals, housekeeping, supervision, medication management, and specialized memory care.</p><p>These are not optional luxury amenities. They&#39;re essential components of the product being delivered.</p><p>When someone says senior housing is unaffordable, they&#39;re often combining multiple fundamentally different things: the cost of housing, the cost of food and the cost of care.</p><p>Because affordable senior housing is only part of the equation.</p><p><strong>What we&#39;re really confronting is the affordability of aging itself.</strong></p><p><strong>------------</strong></p><p>**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:**<br> Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1" target="_blank">https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1</a>)  <br> iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613" target="_blank">https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613</a>)  <br> Website: [<a href="http://www.victorjm.com/" target="_blank">www.victorjm.com</a>](<a href="http://www.victorjm.com/" target="_blank">http://www.victorjm.com</a>)  <br> LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce" target="_bl