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Location of Senior Housing Projects

Posted by kmancer on March 6th, 2010

Location, location, location—does the golden rule of real estate also apply to senior housing projects? Conventional wisdom suggests that walking-distance proximity to stores and services is, if not essential, then at the very least extremely important. But without sitting down and doing the math, I would say that a minority of senior housing projects in BC are located close enough to stores and services so that people could easily walk to them. Some are in locations that are downright pastoral. Of course walking isn’t necessary for all people—some have scooters that enlarge their geographic boundaries. Scooters though are used by a distinct minority of seniors, meaning that walking distance is more important than scooter distance. The average senior housing project in our area (say 120 units) usually has scooter parking for around 10 scooters, a ratio that seems to work fine, at least so far.

And then there are the buses and the tuck shops and the meals. Many senior housing projects have their own buses to take people around to shopping and doctors’ appointments, many have small tuck shops that sell various items, and in any case, most meals are provided on site. So why do people need to walk anywhere? I firmly believe that the answer to that question is this: even if people don’t have to walk anywhere, the fact that they could if they wanted to is an important psychological benefit. And for those people who actually do walk to the store or the bank, it’s more than just a psychological benefit—it’s a physical benefit as well.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 6th, 2010 at 2:19 pm and is filed under Senior Housing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.