Congregate Housing
August 7, 2009 in Community Types
Congregate Housing is for seniors who are no longer able or willing to live completely independently. They may still wish to live in a private senior apartment, but welcome being free of the responsibilities of grocery shopping, meal preparation and housework. They are capable of getting to the communal dining area independently. As the average age of residents in retirement homes or Congregate Housing has increased, these facilities have evolved to offer more and more services to the frail and needy elderly that prevents having to go to a Nursing Home.
Congregate Housing was originally a kind of Assisted Living in a complex of senior apartments with shared daily meals. In the United States, the term “Congregate Housing” appeared in a 1978 federal law that was intended to provide subsidized housing-with-services to seniors and the disabled. Some “Congregate Housing” is the most affordable of senior housing because part of its cost is covered by government agencies and charitable organizations. Currently the term “Congregate Housing” is used for many types of senior communities from Independent Living to various kinds of Assisted Living. Most of these are not subsidized at all, and have many names including:
- Supported Housing
- Life-care homes
- Congregate Retirement Housing
- Congregate Senior Communities
- Residential Care
- Sheltered housing
- Enriched housing
- Single room occupancy housing
The original form of Congregate Housing differs from Independent Living by providing some services: meal preparation and housekeeping, and sometimes more. People living in Congregate Housing units usually do not have their own kitchen. In some complexes, there can be more than one resident per room, and even the bathroom facilities may be shared. By contrast, the main “service” of Independent Living is opportunities for social and recreational activities in a community of seniors, but communal meals and housekeeping-if available-would be options for extra fees.
Congregate Housing offers several types of help with activities of daily living, that it now falls under the “Assisted Living” category. Unlike a Nursing Home, however, congregate living would not include any major medical care. Typically, Congregate Housing with its apartment life, also offers a measure of privacy and independence that a Nursing Home cannot.
