Seniors seek area housing

By KAYLEIGH KARUTIS, The Leader-Herald
Faced with rising costs, difficult home maintenance and limited mobility, senior citizens are seeking housing in more convenient, safer places.

For seniors living in rural areas, though, that often means leaving where many have lived for their entire lives and moving to facilities in Gloversville or Johnstown, away from their friends and families.

Officials with many local senior groups agree the need for senior-specific housing is growing, and will continue to grow as baby boomers age.

“There is a definite, significant need for housing for seniors,” said Peg Schutze, president of the Sacandaga Task Force for Senior Living.

The STFSL, created in May 2006, was made to specifically address the needs of seniors in the Sacandaga area. Schutze says the task force has conducted multiple surveys of seniors in the area and one common theme that has risen to the forefront is dire lack of housing.

The task force, Schutze says, is in the beginning stages of discussing the development of senior housing in the Sacandaga region. Other local officials agree the movement towards developing senior housing is a positive one.

“I think the fact of the matter is, there is a need out there for senior housing,” said Brian Towers, supervisor of the town of Wells in southern Hamilton County.

“We certainly have a lot of seniors who are living on the edge here and could benefit by having alternative living places... they’re literally being driven out of the market [by second homeowners buying properties in the area]. It’s just a fact of life here,” he said.

One of the difficulties associated with providing housing in a rural area is making sure there are the necessary amenities nearby.

“Pulling folks from rural homes is tricky because you have to make sure there are services nearby,” said Catherine Mueller, executive director of the Senior Citizen Service Center of Gloversville and Fulton County.

Mueller said she has worked with seniors in other areas across the nation and says compared to those places, rural areas in Fulton and southern Hamilton counties facing a significant lack of housing.

Seniors need services other than housing, though, Mueller added.

“They need the proper medical care nearby, too, and even though there are many good pieces of property available up north, there are several steps that have to be taken to make a suitable place. Then you have cost, which is always a challenge,” she said.

Mueller expressed concern over baby boomers reaching retirement age, and Andrea Fettinger, director of the Fulton County Office of Aging, agreed.

“We are just beginning to feel the tip of the iceberg of the baby boomers getting older, and those individuals are going to push the need for what they really want,” Fettinger said.

Mueller agreed, saying the difficulty dealing with baby boomers lies in their desire to have a strong say in their future contrasted with their refusal to admit that they are getting older and will eventually need help caring for themselves.

“On the positive side, they know what they want and they are planning ahead for their futures. The negative is being able to provide everything they want, with all the amenities, and still giving them the privacy they want,” Mueller said.

Fettinger said senior housing is moving toward facilities that are both private and public, with shared dining areas but with one’s own private space.

“They don’t want someone to manage them, they just want the information so they can make their own decisions,” Fettinger said of the baby boomer generation.

She praised the STFSL and said they are trying to address a problem that is a real concern for seniors in rural areas.

“I have to say they have done a remarkable job. They are doing a lot of legwork to put forth suggestions and they have asked us to provide information about services, so we’re working with them on that,” she said.

David Henderson, executive director of the Fulton County Community Heritage Corporation, agreed there is a need for more housing for seniors, particularly in rural areas.

“I think there’s always a need for senior housing. It’s difficult for people to remain in their homes [as they get older],” he said.

The Heritage Corp. manages 65 senior housing units in Mayfield, Henderson said.

“We see that in our units, people do look to live there to remain close to their families and friends and the places they grew up. People are returning from other places and are finding they would like to spend their future years closer to where they started,” he said.

Henderson said in general, the Heritage Corp. would support a group like the STFSL.

One issue Henderson mentioned that further emphasizes the need for senior housing is the fact that many of the current senior housing projects have waiting lists. He said the Heritage Corp.’s units in Mayfield have a waiting list of about 20 people.

Several veterans who meet weekly at the Senior Citizen Service Center of Gloversville and Fulton County on Church St. in Gloversville said there’s obviously a need for housing, and agreed with Henderson’s observation that many areas have waiting lists.

“My wife and I are constantly talking about when we might move from our home to some sort of senior housing. There is definitely a need for it... the problem is, all the places are full,” Gloversville resident Jack Holmes said.

A number of the veterans cited cost as a main concern.

“Sure we need more housing, but once you get into things like fitness centers and recreation, it’s expensive as hell,” one veteran said.

Other veterans echoed his sentiments.

“If you’re looking for old people with money to build something like that, you’re looking in the wrong place,” one man said.

Danny Sala of Vails Mills said there are practically no options for seniors seeking housing.

“You either get the hell out or live on welfare. Selling a home is really hard though,” he said, adding that even if someone can manage to sell their home, some housing will turn someone away for having too much money.

Among the veterans, there was a general consensus that there is an urgent need for more housing, but skepticism over how it would be created.

Schutze admitted there has not been enough community support for the STFSL.

“All we have right now is a dream. Membership is tough and people are reluctant to donate because they want to know where their money is going,” she said.

Still, Schutze said, the task force is continuing its work. They recently sent out a survey to area seniors specifically regarding housing and are waiting for the full results to come back, in order to further assess what types of housing seniors are looking for.

Schutze said the group is in the process of obtaining non-profit, tax-exempt status from the government. She said the group is developing their Web site and is hoping to have several events in the spring and summer.

“We’re working very hard,” she said. “We’re trying to figure out what it is our seniors really need.”



Kayleigh Karutis covers rural Fulton County. She can be reached at ruralnews@leaderherald.com.