This makes lots of sense economically, as many seniors will have their homes paid for by the time they reach their later retirement years. Retirement homes and assisted living facilities may cost several thousand dollars per month, while healthy, active seniors who age in place will have far lower housing costs. Renting a room to a younger person/student is also an excellent idea - as suggested here - as that person would be able to help with transportation and household needs.

This is nothing new in smaller towns such as the one in Ohio where I grew up and where I now live in the Pittsburgh area. Why move to somewhere where one knows few, if any people when one can stay in a familiar area with community, if not family support? It's not so much a matter of economics as many would like to believe. Moving away after retirement is a fairly recent occurence in our country's history. Most people around here tend to either stay in their homes or downsize to a smaller, perhaps single-level living space once their children are grown.

The Nursing Homes have picked up on the trends a long time ago. First, rather than just engaging in a Skilled Nursing Facility, Nursing Homes expanded into Assisted Living and Senior living as a way to grab the elderly and keep them in their continuum of care. Home care is another channel. By creating home care services to allow elderly to age in place, they again obtain the elderly earlier and then channel them through the continuum of care. No one wants to be in a nursing home, but when they get there, they don't even know they are there.

I love this idea...for those who are considering building new homes....PLEASE think about the future and make your house now accessible so that when you do get older or become disabled you are able to stay in your own house. This should be a "Building Code" in every city, every state! It saves a lot of trouble and expense in the long run. I know we are trying to make it in an apartment that is at least 30 years old, the bathroom is unaccessible for a wheelchair and the door ways are normal sized so you can't get a wheelchair into it without banging into walls and door frames, but IT IS HOME.

As soon as the kids are gone, it is time to start downsizing to a home with the master bedroom on the first floor and absolutely no steps anywhere! The ideas suggested in the article are essential. A mother in law is good, too, as it can be used for aging parents, then rental income, then our own caretakers. If we are lucky, we will all need such a settup.

A lot of people can't afford to move because their house has been devalued. I don't want to move because my son lives nearby and I moved 2000 miles away from my parents, when I was young for a job, so I only got to see them once a year. I don't care to be isolated again, although the cops in this town make me want to leave. That guy riding a bicycle down the street (to fend off diabetes) must be a criminal as we cops call the bicycle riders in town (SOB's) Scum on bicycles, so we have to get his picture. The cops in Northern California are insane. Total idiots.

One must assess what one can afford , not what one wants. We sold our home for &75K less than appraisal, sold both cars, one car for $4K less than we owed on it, had a 2 week garage sale, bought plane tickets and moved overseas. Overseas bought a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, ground floor condo for $32K, unfinisned on inside, and everything we need within walking distance, so don't need or want cars. We have a very good life, high standard of living, no money in the bank(but that's OK), and every meal is nutritious and will never eat dog food. This works for us and no regrets after 3 years.

Do not forget about the cost of long term care at home. "Aging in Place" needs to accommodate both home care (when the time comes) and sufficient tools for the home care giver. Wide hallways, grab bars etc are a great start. Consider technologies that help a caregiver and family members monitor and manage "activities of daily living" when a caregiver is not immediately present. If ADL's are not being performed, instant notifications are sent out to family and caregivers. In the end these products will allow caregivers and family to provide more effective care, identify when more care is needed and reduce the overall cost of care. Regards, Dan Stone www.assuredindependence.com

For centuries, people "aged in place", living with their children in old age, being useful, participating in family and community life. Often, the oldest child would inherit the house. The Amish have "apartments" tacked onto the backs of their houses, giving elderly parents "space", but also the opportunity to interact with other generations. My mother grew up in Holland with her grandmother being part of the family. "Oma" didn't live alone, or in a retirement community. She cooked, cleaned, told stories, read to the little ones, etc. My mother on the other hand lives alone in a senior housing complex, She chooses not to live with any of her children, and is surrounded by elderly persons like herself who grow more feeble every year and die. That she is often sad is not surprising to me, yet she stays because she likes her "independence". Old age and death are natural, but being surrounded by nothing but is not. I hope to be able to live surrounded by people of all ages always.

Most of us do not want to change. We like being in our homes--if we have homes. What do we do with those who are homeless, childless, single, poor? Isn't that the reality for approximately 70 million baby boomers who will be over 65 in 20 years? Wouldn't we be better served by looking at the realities of growing old in America than the fantasy of "aging in place"? Sure there will be some who are able to live alone until they are 100 but they are the exception not the norm. We need think tanks finding solutions NOW because when the crisis is upon us, it will be too late. These fluff pieces about happy seniors living joyfully full lives until they pass peacefully in their sleep is a fantasy not the harsh, unpleasant reality. Let's change the course of inevitably by doing something about it now.

Dan is absolutely right! We need to utilize some of the available and affordable supplemental technologies in place. People don't want to leave their homes and sometimes they cannot afford to. The technologies that are available shouldn't be thought of as only for the frail and aging, instead they are wonderful for a variety of reasons. They are reminders, cognitive assists, entertainment, social connection to family. For example, a tech like GrandCare Systems can notify someone if the temperature is too high/low in the home or if the stove is left on, it can turn off the stove. Meanwhile, family can be notified if someone gets out of bed during the night and doesn't return or if mom didn't eat breakfast or perhaps didn't access meds. The system can remind mom when it's time to perform scheduled activities or even show a picture with instructions of the medication she's supposed to take right on an easy to use accessible TV or touchmonitor. Technologies like GrandCare were designed to allow anyone to have the full power and benefits of the world wide web, without having to access it in the conventional way.

The touch-based system also allows the loved one to manage chronic conditions (bluetooth enabled blood pressure device, weightscale, pulseox, glucose, ecg). The touchscreen enables a more social experience allowing family to SKYPE in with the loved one, send emails, voice messages, reminders, calendar appts, pics, music, family videos and other personalized content right to the one-touch touchscreen. GrandCare hosts a variety of games, brain exercises, spiritual offerings, news/weather reports for the loved one to appreciate and stay connected!

I believe that technology plays a critical role and will be the missing link to the puzzle as we all take care of one another, especially since we physically don't have enough caregivers or brick and mortar to take care of the BOOMING aging population that is headed our way! Technology will turn normal caregivers into SUPER CAREGIVERS!!!

Laura from GrandCare Systems www.grandcare.com

My parents (aged 82 and 86 ) recently sold their home that they outright owned for the past 22 years (valued at around $510,00) to move into a for profit independent living facility. They essentially handed the check to this facility to lease a smaller home that they do not own. Please help me to understand this logic. They are both in reasonably good health for their age. Have no mortgage, no bills, have friends and family that live close by, but chose to hand over a HUGE amount of money for the "convenience" (I call it false security) of living in a facility that has a "panic" button on the wall and a minimal medical staff with only a dispensary for health care. What is wrong with this picture? Am I missing something here? This facility has good marks by residents and families but I still worry about things like elder abuse and substandard living conditions (not to mention the tremendous outflow of cash to even live there).

I have seldom met an older American who didn't want to stay at home. But with the sentencing of our seniors to a retirement of anxiety by constantly threatening Social Security, limiting their income and subjecting them to insane medical costs they are increasingly losing their family homes to medical costs, banks, property taxes, fat cat investors and are being displaced. We should all be ashamed and involved in being sure our Grandparents can have a life with the basic dignity they deserve.

If you're looking for low-tech or high-tech solutions for Aging-in-Place and Home Healthcare, check out

We need to educate seniors on modern communication that can prevent isolation and keep them feeling connected to people and things in their lives that they love. Many seniors would be able to 'age in place' if they were taught how to better communicate with the world around them. Technology has become simplified, yet the majority of seniors are left out in the cold and don't know how to take those first few frightening steps toward embracing today's tech. We're currently touring senior care centers and conducting free all day workshops for seniors that teach them to embrace today's tech. It's pretty remarkable to see a room of 75 seniors all sending their first text message and downloading books on the iPad 2. www.seniortechrally.com

I think that it is interesting that she stated that she just "could not be around old people". It gave me a laugh because no matter our age, it is a state of mind. Being 56, I don't think of myself as old. Most of us would prefer to stay in our own place and be able to do what we want to do until our last day. Recently, a friend of mine who is 66 had a friend pass away in her apartment. The ladies had a planned day out. Most of the women were in their 70's or 80's, very active, always on the go. When this one particular lady did not show up to the agreed meeting place, a couple of the others went to check on her. They found her deceased, in her chair, newspaper in hand and a cup on coffee on her little table. She died while she was doing something that she enjoyed, in her own home. I think that is lovely.

As a nurse I have seen many elderly people linger in the ICU, hooked to all types of machines, with family members insisting that they are going to get better. I think that is so sad. I see people in nursing homes who sit endlessly in wheelchairs, in hallways, their minds somewhere else due to dementia, with nothing to do. It breaks my heart to see this. To see these once vital people with a world of knowledge and experience, waste away this way. And I don't think they would want to live this way, if they had a choice.

If I ever develop dementia to the point where I can not function for myself, I hope that someone will take mercy on me and just let me go. If I can't still have some fun and take part in life, I don't want to be here.

I would like to find a cottage or home out in the woods or country near a sml. village where I could grow old and still have a sml. shop to make things out of and sale or just to do alterations and such on clothes for men and woman. I could than stay put and not need to move around and be content.

for now I live in a third fl. effect. apt and have little in the way of furnture but am making due. I have not real living room or bed room just a room I use for a bed and two chairs and a few end tables. Its small and a coppy hole that I use for the pc and lawn chair. Most people have a bedroom bathroom sml. kitchen and livingroom but these I haven,t had since 2007 when I ended up homeless and had to live here and there and in my van until I got this place which was to be only until I found another place to live. That so far as not happen even since I put applications here and there so I just gave up.

I would sooner be doing something with my life and working or voleenter work of some kind but that also is far and in between in this area where I am now at. I am a sr. at just 65 yrs old and I dislike setting around doing @!$%# with my life as I am an active woman who needs something to do. I do set around in the fall and winter making quilts, doing some clothes and needle work I even do some painting on pictures and such. who do I socialize with here no one because I really don,t fit in here and we all know this fact. I am not ready to set in a rocker and do nothing. I have tried a number of ways to get work or find a man and also tried to get out of this area.

Once I find the right place I will be happy and content again and have my vegetable garden and flower gardens and be able to can things in the proper season. If I had some farm animals than in butching season I would have something to help out with. I am a farm girl or lady and that you can not take away or out of me. Farming is what I like and have done since a child and than once again when I was homeless and needed a job.

I don,t mind being a caregiver for a person and living in as that I did back in the 90,s until I married. I give most of my credit to the va for teaching me how to be a good caregiver and what to do and not to do. They even taught me about meds which I had learn in college while learning to be a rn and cota. I learned more by doing than by books and pc. I just never got back into caregiving after my husband was ill and than left to die among his family as was his wishes. If I had know he was ill when brought home I would of been their for him as he died just as I was for the longest time with my mom.