Local Senior Care Expert Says Intergenerational Living Presents Special Challenges
It’s happening in the White House and in homes throughout San Luis Obispo County. When President Obama’s mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, settled in with her family in Washington earlier this year, they became part of a growing national trend.
The increasing number of seniors now living under the same roof with at least one other generation is more than just political news. According to a recent survey conducted for the local company Home Instead Senior Care, 43 percent of adult caregivers in the U.S. ages 35 to 62 reside with the parent, stepparent, or older relative for whom they or someone else in their household provides care.1 The Census Bureau confirms this growing trend: In 2000, 2.3 million2 older parents were living with their adult children; by contrast, in 2007, that number jumped to 3.6 million3 – a 55 percent increase.
The challenges that can arise from intergenerational living have prompted Home Instead Senior Care, a company serving San Luis Obispo County, to launch a public education campaign to help families determine if living together is a good idea and to provide tips on how to make such an arrangement work well for seniors as well as their family caregivers if they do decide to combine households. This campaign will help adult children begin to address such issues as the stress of caregiving under one roof, adapting a home for two or more generations and merging household finances.
Several factors are driving this trend, according to Alcantara, manager of the Home Instead Senior Care franchise in Pismo Beach. “We see families coming together to share family caregiving duties for economic reasons and emotional support. Sometimes the seniors need care, but in other instances the older adults could be providing care to their own grandchildren. Seniors may feel they need the emotional support of an extended family and, in these difficult economic times, financial assistance. Regardless of the reasons, combining households is a big decision. Some families may decide that maintaining separate residences is the best alternative.”
At the center of the campaign is a handbook, available free (via download) from the local Home Instead Senior Care, which addresses the emotional, financial, and comfort and safety aspects of intergenerational living.
The handbook was compiled with the assistance of three national experts: Matthew Kaplan Ph.D., Penn State Intergenerational Programs extension specialist; Adriane Berg, CEO of Generation Bold and a consultant on reaching boomers and seniors; and Dan Bawden, founder of the CAPS (Certified Aging in Place Specialists) program for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). A Web site http://www.makewayformom.com/ provides additional support and information, including a calculator that will help families compute and compare whether living together or maintaining separate residences is the best financial option. In addition, the Web site features a virtual tour of an intergenerational home where visitors can hear from a real family and see firsthand how they’ve adapted their home.
Penn State’s Matt Kaplan said that families should approach decisions of combining households from a partnership perspective. “Ask yourself, ‘Can I get the whole family behind the idea?’ When a decision is made to combine families, expectations must be set right away. Family members must listen and become engaged in conversation. The more the entire family buys in at the beginning, the more likely they will be to come up with great ideas,” he noted.
“People need independence, but seeking interdependence and family unity are important as well, particularly in today’s hectic and demanding world.”
1. Survey Methodology: The Boomer Project (www.boomerproject.com) completed online interviews with 1,279 U.S. adult caregivers, ages 35-62, with a parent, stepparent or older relative for whom they or someone in their household provides cares. Of the 1,279 family caregivers interviewed, 548 live with the senior receiving care.
2. U.S. Census Bureau; online at http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-_lang=en&-redoLog=false&-mt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_P027&-format=&-CONTEXT=dt
3. U.S. Census Bureau; online at http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-ds_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_&-_lang=en&-mt_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G2000_B09016&-format=&-CONTEXT=dt
For more information about Home Instead Senior Care’s campaign including additional research results and an executive summary, log on to www.makewayformom.com. For interviews with local seniors and their adult children, and copies of the free “Too Close for Comfort?” handbook, contact Tiffany Alcantara by visiting www.homeinstead.com/345 and clicking on the contact us link.
Financial Freedom or Household Headaches?
Managing household finances can be complicated when sharing a home with a senior parent. Following, from Adriane Berg, author of “How Not to Go Broke at 102!,” CEO of the boomer consulting company Generation Bold, and a founder of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, are financial considerations:
Compute the costs.
To do that, Home Instead Senior Care and Berg have created a calculator, located at http://www.makewayformom.com/, which features 15 questions about your expenses and living habits. Answer those questions and the calculator computes the results to help you determine whether living separately or together is the best option.
Share but beware.
Share overhead costs such as heat and water, but beware of the tax implications of combining households. A tax adviser should be consulted before such a move.
Keep money separate. Maintain separate bank accounts if the senior is of sound mind. Seniors who stay in control of their finances thrive.
Consider caregiving.
While a healthy senior can serve as a grandchild’s caretaker, an unhealthy older adult will need care. That can be a disruption of a household as well as loss of work income. You must factor that into your budget.
What about deductions?
You may qualify for a dependency deduction for your older loved one if they’re living with you, however, seniors may lose a homeowner’s deduction if they move out of their own home.
For more information and tips on the financial ramifications of intergenerational living, log on to www.makewayformom.com or contact your local Home Instead Senior Care office for the free “Too Close for Comfort?” handbook.
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