Aging in Place is the Goal of Many of Today’s Seniors
As the Baby Boomer generation continues to gray, issues and concerns about quality of life, affordability of essential services and medical care come increasingly into focus.
At a legislative peak-out and breakfast Friday at the Westchester County Center over 150 seniors said they wanted to stay in the county and age-in-place in their homes, but that costs in the region often made that prohibitive
Mae Carpenter, Commissioner of the Department of Senior Programs and Services, said that an AARP study released the same day as the event indicated that 60 percent of working Baby Boomers could be headed out of New York, carrying with them more than $105 billion every year. However, an AARP study from 2013 indicated that if New York Baby Boomers reverse course and remain in the state they will enrich it by $179 billion a year.
Possibly responding to issues brought up at the breakfast meeting, Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner noted in an email over the weekend that he was pushing for affordable assisted living facilities in Greenburgh to help the middle class.
“People can’t afford $7,000 to $9,000 a month for luxury assisted living facilities. The problem: the assisted living facilities in Westchester are all high end, upscale and luxurious. There is a need for the state and federal governments to help the middle class address long term care,” he said.
Feiner looks to federal and state representatives for initiatives that could be taken so Westchester and Greenburgh would be able to see affordable assisted living facilities built in addition to the upscale and luxurious facilities.
“It is my hope that the Town of Greenburgh will be able to find a location for this kind of facility and that we will be able to lead by example,” Feiner said.
