BOSTON — Massachusetts is one of the most expensive places to live and according to 2Life Communities, a nonprofit housing organization—more than 70% of older adults can’t afford to age here because of the high cost of housing and care.
That’s why 2Life partnered with an all inclusive health care program to create subsidized living that offers medical services all within the same building.
“I’ve been here for like a year and a half now and I’m loving it,” said resident Daniel Hunt.
Daniel hunt lives in a one bedroom apartment with his dog Oreo.
“He’s the love of my life,” said Hunt.
And he has that full independent living, with a full kitchen, all while being able to come down to the first floor whenever he wants to socialize or check on his health.
“It’s like a big family and to be honest with you, I never really had that before,” said Hunt.
Just two years ago, the army veteran was concerned he wouldn’t have a place to live after he lost his job.
“I was in like a didn’t realize how much of a depression and you know, low state of, didn’t know exactly where I was going to end up,” said Hunt.
Daniel was able to get into the J.J. Carroll house in Brighton. 2Life Communities transformed the former government public housing into modern apartments for older adults that includes activity rooms and the pace center—-which offers all inclusive care--from medical to dental and vision for the elderly.
“There’s many benefits to living in communities as an older adult, and one is certainly access to health care and support with navigating kind of daily life and you know making sure that folks have proper nutrition and are participating in wellness programming,” said Lizbeth Heyer, President of 2Life Communities.
President of 2Life Communities Lizbeth Heyer says this is different than assisted living in that residents only pay 30% of their income to live here, the rest is subsidized by the government. This allows residents to focus on their physical, mental and social health.
“I think there is a lot of fear out there of being alone and being without the resources that you need to afford the care and the nutrition that’s important to aging well,” said Heyer.
“People can just roll downstairs or we can roll right up to their room to be able to make sure that care is coordinated seamlessly is very powerful,” said Doug Thompson, CEO of Element Care.
Element Care is the healthcare partner on site. CEO Doug Thompson says this type of integration allows people to live up to six years longer because they don’t miss appointments and future health issues don’t go undetected. The subsidized care also provides an affordable means to staying healthy.
“It’s not so much about whether or not you’re genetically predisposed to something,” said Thompson. “It’s really about whether you have the resources to be able to take care of yourself. And when you don’t have adequate, safe, affordable housing, you are incredibly vulnerable to exacerbating your costs, decreasing the quality of life.”
Even though Hunt is battling prostate cancer, he’s not doing it alone. He has a whole support system around him.
“It’s just a wonderful feeling,” said Hunt. “It changed my life, you know, and it changed my life for the better.”
The waitlist to get into 2Life Communities is in the thousands and it can take up to six years to get into particular campuses. 2Life says it’s building more communities for low-income and middle-income residents because the need is tremendous.
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