ABA Family Legal Guide

The Rights of Older Americans

Housing and Long-Term Care Options

Retirement Communities

I have heard a lot about retirement communities that offer all kinds of different services and amenities. What types of retirement communities are available today?

In the last several years, there has been a large increase in the number of living options for older people as both the public and private sectors attempt to respond to the growing numbers of elders. The modern model of retirement community first appeared in the 1950s in the Sunbelt states as senior communities that offered independent living with a variety of social and recreational opportunities. Much has changed today. Between the extremes of independent living and nursing-home care, a variety of alternatives now offers endless combinations of shelter plus services or amenities. Physically, facilities may range from single-family-type housing, to high-rise or garden apartment buildings, to campuslike developments.

Facility definitions differ among states and sometimes even within states. For simplicity's sake, it is useful to distinguish three levels of housing based on the services provided. At one end of the continuum are independent-living communities. These offer little or no health and supportive services, although they may have recreational and social programs. At the opposite end are continuing-care retirement communities (CCRCs). These provide a fairly extensive range of housing options, care, and services, including nursing-home services. In between are facilities that offer a wide variety of housing and health or supportive services but not nursing-home care. Today, these are commonly referred to as assisted-living communities, but they include facilities variously called "housing with supportive services," "congregate care homes," "board and care homes," and "personal care homes," to list just a few.