2010.08.09 EDA Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Roseville's new comprehensive plan cautions against an oversupply of age-restricted housing, and the city has tried to attract younger families by promoting its schools and park system. It offers seniors guidance on making their homes more saleable and shows potential buyers how easy it is to remodel or expand a rambler. But Klausing says success is mixed. Homes that were considered spacious in the 1960s may look cramped to today's buyers. "It's difficult to attract people who are looking for five bedrooms and four bathrooms," Klausing said. "Our best chance is to attract people who realize the transportation cost-benefits of our location." Lisa Edstrom, associate director of the University of Minnesota's Center on Aging, said cities have few models to look to as they try to adapt for an older future. She lives in Roseville and is on the school board. One of Edstrom's neighbors died at 101 —still living in his own home. "We've made a lot of assumptions about how people will age and what cities will look like, but we didn't expect ... to have people living until 100 and still be in their homes," she said. Marion Fogarty, 80, is one of those seniors who moved to Roseville for the very amenities the city is selling. After 45 years of life on farms and in small towns, she left Belle Plaine for Greenhouse Village because she wanted more in retirement than a small town could offer. She has attended concerts at Orchestra Hall, taken Elderhostel trips and is nearer her son and grandchildren than she was in Belle Plaine. "If I didn't go to church, there wasn't much else to do," Fogarty said. "I had to drive 20 miles one way to see a movie. I looked at a lot of places but I liked this location." Homebound "Senior" doesn't quite cover the reality of an aging community, St. Odilia's Rask said. There's old, he said, and the"oldest of the old." It is those truly old residents—many of them frail, homebound and living alone—who can place the greatest strain on the community's ability to adapt. A single fall, illness or trauma like loss of a spouse can push an 80-year-old from independence to isolation. Toogood has seen it firsthand, often when a husband dies and his widow stops coming to church because she doesn't drive. Often it is active retirees like the Toogoods—who give blood, serve on church and city planning groups, and deliver Meals on Wheels—that help the community care for the vulnerable old. Yet volunteers can fill only part of the gap. Parishioners at St. Odilia have taken it upon themselves to help those who need a ride to a church lunch or service. But finding those at risk of becoming homebound requires special effort. Last year, Roseville's senior program at Fairview Community Center had 14,500 contacts with seniors—everything from people who came to play cards to people who needed Meals on Wheels, a visiting nurse or a chore service. Now, 148 seniors are receiving Meals on Wheels through the Roseville program, said Janell Wampler, senior program coordinator. The program delivers nutritious meals to homebound seniors, but it also acts as a safety check for people who want to stay in their homes despite infirmities. Wampler said that's often a cheaper alternative than having them in a senior residence. The $350,000 budget of Roseville's senior program, however, has not kept pace with demand, and the staff is smaller than it was four years ago. Karen Schaub, public relations director for the Roseville schools, said a better-publicized and funded program "could double the number we're serving." For the first time, the center is discussing the possibility of instituting a membership fee. As Minnesota ages, Edstrom said, more cities will be facing choices like those in Roseville. "We set up social structures around the assumption that people would live maybe 10 years past retirement," she said. "That's just not the case today. People are living longer, some of them with chronic disease. ... "It's unprecedented. We really haven't faced anything like this before." Mary Jane Smetanka'612-673-7380