Senior living providers looking to attract some of the existing 22.1 million “solo agers” in the United States — older adults living alone — don’t need to sell a community’s architecture or outstanding cuisine. Instead, they need to invite them in to see current residents having fun.
That’s according to Sara Zeff Geber, PhD, author of “Essential Retirement Planning for Solo Agers” in 2018. During a recent roundtable discussion hosted by marketing firm Varsity, she discussed how senior living communities can appeal to older adults who don’t have the support of a traditional family system.
Geber defined solo agers as individuals who have no children or whose children or family members live far away, have no spouse or partner, potentially are estranged from their family, or live alone.
Pointing to statistics shared by the Elder Orphans Facebook group, Geber said that 79% of solo agers don’t have children, 52% report being lonely, and 35% do not have family members to help them cope with life’s challenges.
The senior living industry has held up the assisted living model as a solution to strengthening social connections for older adults in the wake of the US surgeon general’s advisory last year on the public health crisis of loneliness. A 2022 report from the American Seniors Housing Association and ATI Advisory found that senior living communities improved quality of life during the pandemic through cohesive social environments and encouragement of residents to participate in social activities.
Many solo agers, Geber said, may lack the support they need as they age, even if they have the financial means to afford senior living. And many do — Geber said that numerous solo agers have “substantial” household incomes: 43% report household incomes of more than $50,000, 33% have long-term care insurance, and 68% plan to pay for long-term care from their savings or investments.
Senior living supportive
Geber said that adult children typically provide for their parents medication management, assistance with activities of daily living, bill-paying and help with financial decisions, assistance with residential decisions and relocation, social and moral support, legal representation and help with real estate transactions — all roles she said that senior living, and in particular continuing care retirement / life plan communities, can step in and provide for older adults who don’t have children
“I pose the idea that a life plan community can step in in many ways and help these solo agers with these considerations,” Geber said. “The more you do that, the more you are able to help solo agers get over the hump of making the move — managing the real estate transactions, finding someone to help with bill-paying and other financial decisions — the more attractive a retirement community will be.”
Future residents, she said, want stimulating activities; clubs, outings and programs; large exercise rooms, gyms and pools; transportation; and high-quality food. But mostly, what they need is community, Gerber said.
“Older adults want to be engaged,” she said. “They want to feel useful, do something meaningful.”
Gerber encouraged senior living providers to find ways to bring solo agers into their communities for tours and opportunities that allow them to observe residents enjoying life and avoiding social isolation and loneliness.
“Solo agers want what all boomers want — community, purpose and wellness,” she said. “If you can provide that and the opportunity to have a community, your community becomes their family. That’s an important thing for us all to embrace and realize.” The more ways senior living communities can appeal to what solo agers want, the better positioned they will be to attract them, she added.
“I think that senior living is absolutely ideal for solo agers,” Geber said. “The one thing I always say is, aging in place is just a bad idea for solo agers.”
