TABLE 1.-Number of persons aged 65 and over and number and percent in institutions, by age and sex, 1950

Sources: Bureau of the Census, U. S. Census of Population; 1950, vol. II, Characteristics of the populor pt. 1, U. S. Summary, ch. B, pp. 90, 92, and vol. IV, Special Reports, pt. 2, ch. C. Institutional Popul p. 15. (This table taken from Social Security Bulletin, October 1953, vol. 16, No. 10.)

TABLE 2.-Persons aged 65 and over in institutions, by type of institution, 155

Source: Bureau of the Census, U. S. Census of Population: 1950, Special Reports, pt. 2, eb. C. Ir tional Population, pp. 16-18. (This table taken from Social Security Bulletin, October 1953, vol. 16, N

TABLE 3.—Percentage distribution of income in 1949 of nonfarm primary family or primary individual, 65 years of age and over, and under 65 years

Source: U. S. Bureau of Census, Special Tabulation for Division of Housing Research, Housing and Come Finance Agency, July 1951. One-in-a-thousand sample of nonfarm dwelling units. Sample is not itable for use to secure State or local figures. (This table taken from Facts for Housing the Aging, comiled, for the University of Michigan, Fifth Annual Conference on Aging, July 24-26, 1952, Ann Arbor, Lich.)

'ABLE 4.-Numbers and percent of persons 65 years and over receiving income from specified sources (December 1951) 1

1

Some persons received income from more than one of the sources listed.

Wives of male beneficiaries of programs other than old-age and survivors insurance and railroad retire

at.

ource: Estimated by Social Security Administration from Bureau of the Census data and reports of ncies administering social insurance and related programs and old-age assistance. Estimates are preinary. (Table 4 taken from Facts for Housing the Aging, compiled for the University of Michigan, h Annual Conference on Aging, July 24-26, 1952, Ann Arbor, Mich.)

[nstead, many of the aged are living in oversized units or in dilapidated units. special study prepared by the Bureau of the Census in agreement with the vision of Housing Research of the Housing and Home Finance Agency shows it only 66.4 percent of the aged were living in housing in 1950 which had vate toilet, bath, and hot running water. (See table 5 from study attached.) contrast 72 percent of those persons under 65 years of age live in houses having vate toilet, bath, and hot running water. Eleven and three-tenths percent of aged do have private toilets, bath, and cold running water, but most of them e in a dilapidated house. Twelve and eight-tenths percent of the aged had ining water but no private toilet or bath, and 8.4 percent did not even have ining water available to them.

Not only do the aged live in dilapidated units, but usually they occupy overe units as well. Fifty-eight percent of the aged live in houses involving five or re rooms although they have smaller families than households headed by sons under age 65. See table 6 attached.

44750-54-pt. 165

TABLE 5.—Condition of dwelling units-Condition and type of plumbing equip ment of all housing in 1950 by heads of family over and under 65 years in nonfarm areas

Source: United States Bureau of the Census, special sample tabulation of 1950 census data prepared under agreement with the Division of Housing Research, Ho sing and Home Finance Agency. (This table taken from Facts for Housing the Aging; compiled for the University of Michigan Fifth Annual Conference on Aging, July 24-26, 1952, Ann Arbor, Mich.)

TABLE 6.-Size of dwellings, number of rooms in dwelling units by heads of family over and under 65 years of age in 1950 in nonfarm areas

Source: United States Bureau of the Census, special sample tabulation of 1950 census date prepared under agreement with the Division of Housing Research, Housing and Home Finance Agency. (This table taken fom p. 27 of Facts for Housing the Aging; compiled for The University of Michigan Fifth Annual Conference on Aging, July 24 to 26, 1952, Ann Arbor, Mich.).

The aged often experience a feeling of extreme insecurity, not because of inadequate income but because they live alone. They fear the possibility of a fall or an illness with no one to notice their illness or their failure to appear at meal times. As a result they lead lonely and frustrated lives. Because their families are grown and no longer dependent upon them, they often have a feeling of uselessness as well which makes life hardly worth living for them. They desire companionship; they desire a feeling of being needed; they wish security in a psychological sense just as much as in an economic sense. They want to be housed decently, and yet they want to feel that what they have they are paying for that it is their own. Unhappily for them the market provides practically no opportunity to buy houses. The few that are available are very high cost because of their particular circumstances.

The reason for the lack of housing for the aged in the commercial market is no hard to understand. The aged are relatively questionable as a mortgage risk. Hence there is usually a large down payment required of them, and the only mortgage given them is a relatively short-term mortgage, with resulting high monthly payments. The consequence of all this is that only the well-to-do aged can easily qualify for a new house in the open market.

From the landlord's standpoint, many are doubtful about renting to the aged because they fear the aged may become ill and be unable to pay their bills; or the aged may require expensive medical care. He fears that they may become a very real burden upon him and require more and more of his attention. From the builder's standpoint, the market has been so good for housing for young families for the last 10 to 14 years that he has kept busy building homes on a speculative basis that he could sell directly to young or on contract with he young and middle aged. He has not thought to cultivate the market for housing among the aged. From the standpoint of rental housing, speculative uilders have managed to do very well building for the young bachelor person, he young married couple, and the childless couple, and here investors have not hought to cater to this market. The aged are not likely to develop organizations hrough which they can provide housing for themselves. No case of consumer Cooperatives, for example, composed of the aging has ever been called to our attention. The likelihood that older persons will organize a new corporation to uild housing for themselves on any general basis is very small.

As noted above, the aged who are dependent are now being housed in mental nstitutions or in nursing homes or in hospital beds of all manner of descripions-some bad, some good, and some indifferent. We do not believe that we can rovide housing for those who are already in this group on any economic basis hat the typical aging person who has become dependent can afford. But since 7 percent of the aged still have some form of independence these are the group or whom we are concerned. Some of the independent ones own or rent adequate omes. Some live with members of their families or other relatives, sometimes appily; sometimes not so happily. Some rent and some own homes that are old, oo large, and rundown. But many are renting quarters that are not only too xpensive but also already slums. In Denver we find that many of them are living n old rundown hotels. Some are residing in institutions, such as nursing homes, hat are loaded with chronically ill persons. Such housing is relatively expenive, and may give old-age homes a bad reputation. Furthermore, these homes or the aged are usually old buildings which have been converted to this purpose. Ve have examined some of the homes in Denver where the aged live, and we find hat in many cases the aged are physically prisoners in such institutions. They nust climb a half flight of stairs up to the structures from the ground simply to et into the living quarters. Furthermore, in most of these homes they must then limb a full flight of stairs to get to a bathroom or to bedroom facilities. The voman who lives in a house of this sort and who does her own laundry may have o go down a full flight of stairs to a laundry in the basement and then climb a alf flight of stairs carrying a heavy wetwash out to the yard to hang it up. For hose aged of limited physical strength this type of housing virtually makes them a risoner in their own home. For those who are living in such homes the only way heir independence can be restored is to provide them housing which is suited to heir physical condition.

Many of the larger homes that take aged persons in, even though sponsored by haritable or nonprofit groups, tend to become institutions that make "inmates" out of the residents. Some of them require the person to transfer all of his proprty to the home at the time of his admission. The result is that he no longer ontrols his own income or property, and he really is not free to leave the instituion if his circumstances or his desires change and he wishes to leave. This ppears to us to be a way of destroying the independence of the aged. We are nxious to provide housing which avoids this type of financial arrangement. In my own neighborhood there is a home for the aged which is located literally niles away from the nearest shopping center, theater, church, or any other social Organization or any other person who might wish to visit the aged or whom the ged might wish to visit. The only opportunity for aged living in such instituions is to ride in on a private bus or station wagon to the city at hours that match he schedule of the station wagon or bus. Putting the aged out "to farm" on grassy acres" is not a proper solution. This may be an appropriate treatment or a faithful old horse, but it seems indecent to put our senior citizens out of sight and probably out of mind in a fashion which makes them prisoners of the ocation of the housing which has been provided. The facilities should not be ituated away from friends, families, community ties, and community instituions. They ought to be near or on a transportation line that provides proximity o the library, the church, the lodge hall, and the other institutions which have neant much in the enriching of the lives of the aged persons.

What kind of housing do the aging want? There is an interesting study in contrasts here. We have recently been providing housing which is ideally

suited to the aged. We have been building houses that are all on one floorthe kitchen, the living room, the dining room, the laundry, the bathroom, and the bedroom all on the same floor. So even a person who has a bad heart or bad legs or a game hip is able to move around freely from one unit to the other of this household without impairment. Furthermore, these houses have been built without basements; they have been built right next to the ground, with only a single step into or out from the yard. The residents can move freely from the inside of the house in good weather to the outside without fear of falling or without fear of heart strain from the flight of stairs that may be involved. This is the typical contemporary home. Hundreds of thousands of these have been built each year for the past 10 years and they have been sold to women and men in their twenties, thirties, and forties, but to only a few in their fifties. As a result, 40 years from now we will not have so serious a problem of providing adequate housing for the aging because many more of the young people of today will be able to maintain themselves comfortably in old age in the homes they now possess.

But today's senior citizens, those of the generation that is closing, are not living in these houses but rather in the 2-, 3-, and 4-story houses of the Victorian era. We find the aged want houses that are designed to suit their personal and family circumstances. The children are grown; a 1-bedroom or a 2-bedroom apartment at most is quite adequate. They want an efficient little kitchenette and dining space, private bath, and a living room. They want to entertain in the privacy of their own residence unit.

They want units specifically designed to meet the limitations of their strength. A few will desire simply a residence hall or hotel type of structure. This is particularly suited for those who do not desire to do their own cooking but prefer to eat out. This may be true of the retired man who has always been a bachelor and is accustomed to eating out and not preparing his own meals. It will also be desired by those who have become chronically ill or are bedridden, and who are not up to the demands of housekeeping. They want a simple bedroom, living room, and bath combination.

These houses should be built of materials that are easy to keep clean and maintain, which do not demand a great deal of effort on the part of the housekeeper. They should be located, and this is very important, on a bit of ground with some open space around so they can have some shrubs, trees, and flowers, so that they can sit out in the fresh air and sunlight, so they can play light outdoor games, so they may enjoy flowers and beauty, so that they may entertain and visit in privacy and comfort close to their own residence unit. They ought not to have a long walk from their residence unit to the outside.

They want housing, in other words, that preserves their independence in every way possible. These houses or housing units should be located near public transportation, near shopping, near community recreation, so that they can attend the churches they have always attended, the lodges and other organized groups. They should be located where medical facilities can be obtained easily and where those who feel up to it can enjoy such employment opportunity as they wish.

Someone has suggested that old age is like adolescence in reverse. That is to say, just as the adolescent is seeking to leave dependence and achieve independence, so the senior citizen seeks to preserve his independence and pestpone and prevent in every way possible the acceptance of increasing dependence upon others. The type of housing, the price of housing, and the conditions surrounding housing can have a great deal to do with the preservation or destruetion of their independence.

We regret to report that our studies so far indicate that many of the housing facilities now provided, both publicly and privately, have ended by destroying their independence rather than by preserving it. We believe that the independence of the aging and a feeling of freedom is an absolute necessity. Yet with it there must be a kind of security and assurance that there are those nearby who care and who can, in case of an emergency, be called upon to help. Too frequently in our society we have been asked to give away security in order to obtain freedom, or we have been asked to surrender freedom as the price for security. We believe that it should be possible in housing as in other areas to secure independence or freedom and yet provide security. And we believe that the program that we are about to present is a program which achieves this very goal.

As I have said, we have been engaged in research on this problem for a considerable period of months now, in response to requests from church and professional groups. They asked us to find a solution to the problem of providing decent housing at economic rentals within the means of the senior citizens be