Senior Boomer Communes

The Boomer Project is passionate about educating marketers and companies in understanding the new "mature market"

Jerry Seinfeld is over 50. So is Christie Brinkley. Howard Stern. Oprah.

You wouldn't call them "senior citizens," would you? How about 50+? Mature Market?

This year half of all the Baby Boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964, will be 50 or older. Over the next ten years all 78 million Baby Boomers will turn 50. They are responsible for over $2 trillion in consumption and there’s no let up in sight. Most marketers have spent the last 30 years targeting this group, typically called the "18-49 year old" segment. But they are 49 no more. And marketers cannot afford to ignore them.

If you want to keep up with the latest news, you should subscribe to their monthly newsletter.  I know, they really need a blog.  Still, there are great insights that add depth to what we boomers are talking about.  Like this.

Cohabitating to Cohousing
The Return of the Commune  (Sort of)

Over the next 30 years all 76 million Baby Boomers will reach 70 and older. As reported in this newsletter and other places, it is likely Boomers will "age-in-place" and not relocate to Florida or Arizona.

But not all of them will be able to afford independent living, private assisted living or nursing facilities. And just like Boomers aren't anticipating Social Security to cover their nut in the later years, they also doubt Medicare will foot the bill for much in terms of late- life housing and care.

So where will all these Boomer Seniors live? And who will take care of them?

One answer already in the works in a concept imported from Denmark called "cohousing." Cohousing is a small community with 10 to 30 homes, clustered close together, with easy accessible walkways connecting them, and a large community building where some medical facilities are available, as well as a communal dining area.

The residents own their own homes, in most cases, and also have an equal voice in community affairs and decisions. The entire community breaks bread as often as two or three times a week at the community dining hall and everyone is expected to contribute hours monthly to community service.

Most of the 80 existing cohousing communities in the United States today are multi-generational, but Elder Cohousing is the next trend.

You should expect Elder Cohousing to boom as Boomers start considering how they will have to care for themselves during the later stages of life. The idea of being in a community with shared values, shared care, shared meals, shared transportation, and even shared (multi-family) homes has tremendous appeal to older Boomers, who remember the 1950's. And the commune-trying Boomers of the Sixties will embrace the cohousing concept.

Elder cohousing communities will even be retrofitted from exiting neighborhoods, enabling literal "aging-in-place." This may require local jurisdictions to allow multi-family housing in traditional single family home neighborhoods. The point, as the Cohousing Organization points out, isn't to build new buildings, but to create real communities.

Because, as we will all come to learn, it takes a village to care for older Boomers.

Take a look at their latest  issue  and sign up for a subscription.  After all, who doesn't want to make money off the boomers?