senior care - senior housing

I know that there have been a lot of posts lately on senior housing, assisted living and such. I've been meaning to jump in on the subject so here goes.

I think that senior housing is likely to become a more and more of an issue as the boomer generation ages. Here is another quick statistic on this issue:
In 2000, 12.8% of the US population were 65 years of age or older. 1 in 8 Americans are over the age of 62. As the "Baby Boomers" reach 62, the impact of those who were born between 1946 and 1964 will create 80 million additional Americans who are 62 years of age or older. The impact is so great that by 2030, 1 in 5 Americans will be aged 62 years and older. There will be an increased demand for housing that is designed for seniors.

The scary ting about this is that the senior housing and assisted living that we have now is already not keeping up. This is only going to get worse. It is especially bad since with the economy the way it is, companies are unlikely to build significantly more senior housing or more assisted living facilities. Yes these are growing ares and everyone knows that the senior population is increasing, but companies are clearly very cautious about investing more money, especially in construction. Even if they wanted to, it sounds like they would have a hard time getting financing to build new senior care facilities.

This of course leaves more of the senior care issues to be solved by family. This is where a lot of us are now and it is only going to get worse over time. Imagine a country where one in five households is caring for a senior?

Unfortunately, as my friend points out there is one more step to this problem beyond senior care and senior housing. That is cemetery space. There are over six billion people alive today. If each one needs a cemetery plot 4 feet by 8 feet... do the math.

That is somewhat morbid, but even focusing on the senior care problem, there is plenty to worry about. What about a world where 1 in 5 people lives in senior housing? That leaves a lot of empty houses and depressed real estate prices, and a shortage of senior housing. Maybe our economy will go from everyone working at WalMart to everyone working at an assisted living or senior care facility. Maybe we'll just skip right to the final solution and WalMart will open a series of SeniorMart senior care facilities.. "Always the lowest prices, always the best senior care, all seniors shipped to China where the care givers are paid ten cents a day."

I guess I'm rambling, but I can already see the problems based on the waiting lists we have in my are for space in senior housing or assisted living facilities. Effectively seniors are waiting for someone to die or at least to get sicker so they move to the next level of care and open a spot.

Senior care is just going to be a growing problem.