Top-O-My-Head

Convert Circuit Citys to Elder Communes?

By Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett

By now we've all choked down the harsh reality: Wall Street meltdown and the national mortgage madness kicked the stuffing out of the general housing market and most retirement funds.

Yet relatively few news stories have dealt with the group most dramatically affected: Elderly folks still in their own homes on the verge of selling, then moving into a retirement setting. (An exception is a well-written New York Times feature headlined, "Unable to Sell Homes, Elderly Forgo Move to Assisted Living.")

Some creative solutions are being put into action, such as retirement communities allowing new residents to rent month-to-month until their properties sell, rather than demanding a big buy-in. But clearly more creative measures are needed. Never one to look a gift-idea in the mouth, I offer this notion, which was prompted by something I overheard while getting my hair cut the other day:

Thirty-something hairdresser to much-older client: "So, is there anything you can do about losing all that retirement money? I mean, how do you make it back?

Client: "All I've come up with so far is to get my neighbor to split the cost of a case of toilet paper from Costco."

(Laughter all around.)

Okay, so, toilet-paper cost-sharing isn't going to turn things around, but it did get me thinking about pooling resources. Sweden's been into this for a long time, developing planned housing that does several things: lures young families and oldsters with lower rents, and provides market-rate rentals for working folks. This avoids creation of old-age ghettos, and allows the young and nimble to rake the leaves or maybe scoot off to the local equivalent of Costco while 12 overprotective grandparent-equivalents watch the kids.

Communal living in America doesn't get great press. Polygamists or survivalists seem to be the only people who try it anymore, if you can believe what you read. (And, face it, most of us don't have the energy for those lifestyles.) But the basic idea makes a world of sense right now. Maybe all it needs is a little tweak.

Perhaps we could create a new layer of housing, one that fits between our last private home and before retirement communities. Sort of a way-station where we can enjoy our last gasp of freedom. As Circuit City, Mervyns and other retailers go dark, those big-box stores could be converted into communal housing. Everyone gets a small bedroom, bath and sitting area, with huge common spaces nearby. Everything's on one level (or reachable by escalators) and there are ample fire doors, sprinklers and climate control. Nice bright lighting too. We chip in for food and other necessities, and the happily employed recent college grads who serve as our shopping squad go out and get it all wholesale.

Meanwhile, other recent college grads (all with huge loans to pay off) are hired to renovate those empty single-family homes we left behind, turning them into energy-efficient housing for the next generation of American dreamers.

-- Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett dreams of Utopia in Portland, Oregon.