Individual, Institutional, and Community Barriers to Aging in Place in Low-Income Cooperative Senior Housing

Background and Purpose: Senior housing has experienced rapid growth over the past few decades, indicating that more and more older adults will be aging in place in this type of living environment. One approach to senior housing is the cooperative model, which promotes older adults’ autonomy and empowerment through their management of the building. This emphasis on elder involvement aligns with a number of other innovative interventions that aim to help older adults age in place, such as the Village model. To date, however, little research has examined the unique challenges to safely aging in place in cooperative senior housing. For example, questions remain regarding residents’ ability to access informal and formal support as they age and encounter potential declines in health and functioning. To address this gap in the literature, this study examined potential barriers to aging in place, including those emerging from the residents; cooperative housing culture and policies; and the surrounding community.

Methods: Our study focused on a cooperative housing model offered to low-income older adults in the Detroit metropolitan area. In these co-ops, residents have control over day-to-day management while an organization owns the buildings and provides technical assistance and training to residents. These co-ops have historically taken a volunteer approach to in-house service provision through a program in which members provide support to other members. In recent years, however, some co-ops have opted to hire a professional service coordinator.  We collected data in 4 co-ops, including 2 with a formal service coordinator and 2 without.  Data came from multiple sources, including structured interviews with 185 co-op residents, semi-structured interviews with service coordinators and resident volunteers, document reviews, and observations of co-op activities.  

Results: Preliminary analyses indicate that while the majority (70%) of residents would like to stay in the co-op for the rest of their life, they face multiple barriers to doing so. Individual-level barriers include resident reluctance to seek out or accept any source of support, as well as the absence of family involvement. The co-op itself presents institutional barriers, such as policies preventing communication and coordination between informal and formal support, and a culture that emphasizes self-reliance. The surrounding community presents barriers as well, including limited access to goods and services.

Conclusion and Implications: For older adults with limited financial resources, cooperative senior housing offers a promising setting for aging in place. Results suggest, however, that residents will encounter a number of challenges to remaining in their co-op as they age. Implications for cooperative housing, as well as other aging-in-place interventions combining elder empowerment, voluntary support, and professional services, will be discussed.