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Newswise — A study developed at the University of Kansas indicates that cooperative housing units are a satisfying alternative to nursing homes for senior citizens in the Midwest.
In fact, an overwhelming majority of respondents to a survey designed for the KU study indicated that living in a rural senior housing cooperative had a positive effect on their overall happiness, contact with friends, and access to leisure activities.
The study, prepared by Deborah Elaine Altus, assistant research professor at the KU gerontology center, and R. Mark Mathews, associate director of the gerontology center and associate professor of human development, was published in the 1997 Cooperative Housing Journal of The National Association of Housing Cooperatives.
"Rural senior co-ops give rural seniors -- who frequently have to move long distances to find retirement housing -- the opportunity to remain in their home communities," Mathews said. "And, unlike many group residential settings for senior citizens, co-ops allow seniors to control their own housing."
The co-ops provide a way for seniors to reside in homes designed to meet their needs while preserving their equity as home-owners, he added. That is very different from the many retirement communities that charge a large, non-refundable entrance fee. Co-ops help small towns by creating jobs and encouraging seniors to both remain in the community and to turn over housing to younger families.
According to Altus, the study focused on three housing co-ops developed by Homestead Housing Center and located in three Midwestern towns with populations under 6,500.
The co-ops each house around 20 residents in one- and two-bedroom garden apartments. Residents own a share in the cooperative with the price ranging from $53,000 to $97,000, depending on the size of their unit. Residents must be at least 55 years of age or married to someone who is.
Sixty co-op residents -- the entire population of the three co-ops -- were surveyed, with 39 responding for an overall return rate of 65 percent. Respondents were 77 percent female and 23 percent male. The median age was 80 with a range from 62 to 91.
"Ninety-five percent of the residents moved to their current residence from single-family homes where most of them had lived for a long time," Altus said. "Despite their long tenure in their previous homes, almost all of them expressed a great deal of satisfaction with co-op housing."
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