Journal of Property Management

available in their local communities. Visiting Nurses Associations can provide professionals to check blood pressure or offer foot care. Other in-home health care providers can offer rehabilitation and medical services. Arrangements can also be made with meal providers, like Meals on Wheels, for those residents who need it.

“Managers should not be afraid of getting into this area of service,” Gamzon said. “They don’t have to provide the services themselves. They just need to be able to associate and link with [outside] providers. There is value added in these alliances.”

Seniors also appreciate a well-trained, caring staff, that is mindful of their needs and tries to honor their requests, said Edward M. Newman, CPM, and president and CEO of Summit Management Services Inc., in Akron, Ohio. When his management team members meet residents in hallways they say hello and remember to ask residents what they can do to improve services. They listen carefully when seniors come to them with questions or comments.

“These are really [not] radical things to do,” Newman joked. “But they work with everyone, especially seniors.”

SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE

Planning events for senior residents is as important as
providing daily services. When determining the types of
social amenities to offer his residents, Crump has taken
ideas that work in his age 55+ properties and applied
them to his buildings with a more diverse resident mix.

Properties with a preponderance of seniors have been given the designation NORCs —Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities. Under current Federal law, the term, defined by Michael Hunt, professor in the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, refers to properties that were not planned or designed for older residents, but where 40 percent of the heads of households are older individuals, or a critical mass of older individuals exists.

In a nationwide survey con-
ducted in 2005, AARP found
that as many as 36 percent of
respondents 55 and older could
be viewed as living in NORCs. The
existence of NORCs has led to
private and governmental studies
seeking to understand the benefits
of offering support services to the
residents of these buildings as
they age.

NORCs occur for a variety of reasons, ranging from location to the size of units. Amenities such as doors wide enough to accommodate walkers, senior-friendly bathtubs and wider-than-average parking spaces also may have attracted or retained a cohort

natural occurence

of older residents, said Beverly Brandon, vice president of senior living design and research at Rees Associates, Inc., in Baltimore.

“Most seniors, when they move into NORCs, don’t think about needing specialized items,” Brandon said. “But as a manager you can attract seniors by telling them about options you are willing to provide that will allow them to stay on longer as residents. You can offer to provide transportation, add grab bars in bathtubs and arrange for delivered meals— things that over time seniors will find beneficial.”