Part 4: Independent Living

Once again, we are making the assumption that these are not senior apartment that happen contain only people over the age of 65 but those that actually provide services and a minimum of one meal a day.

Usually, at least here in Chicago, they are apartment style buildings – high-rise and mid-rise.  The apartments are private and range in size from studios to two bedrooms.  Most likely they all have a full kitchen with stove, as all 3 meals a day are usually not provided.

Pricing can range from $1400 - $4000 a month with out any a la carte services that the building might offer.  Those services might be escorts or stand by assists with bathing and can be purchased off a menu.  Its assumed that the folks moving in will not need them but will want to have them as they age in place or after they return from a stay in the hospital.

Factors that do go into the cost include:  location (just like any other real estate), size of the apartment, view, amenities of the building (i.e.: doorman, storage, pool) and the number of meals provided daily.

As some of these buildings have grown up they have added a form of assisted living.  They may reserve a floor or two for those that have aged in place and that need services and 3 meals a day included in the price.  They want residents to be able to stay with the people they have grown to know and in a familiar environment.  The key is that not all of these assisted living floors are licensed or regulated by the state in any way.  So it’s always a good idea to ask.

We are going to talk about licensed assisted living in our next post.