Relationships-How to Care For Aging Parents - Living Arrangements or Housing Choices

As our parents age, it falls upon us as adult children to make sure they're cared for properly. Sometimes mom and dad want to continue living in their own home their entire life, and this can make care for them as they're aging more difficult. There are options however, with living arrangements and housing choices for aging parents, and these can be beneficial to both the parents and the adult children too.

One popular housing arrangement for aging parents is known as ECHO housing. ECHO stands for Elder Cottage Housing Opportunity. In most cases, the adult children have a home and property of their own, and they add a secondary living space to that property for their aging parents to live in.

The secondary space used for Elder Cottage Housing can sometimes be a smaller apartment or guest house sized free standing building on the property. It can also be a fully equiped RV, or a mobile or manufactured home too. Sometimes the separate housing area used for aging parents is simply an apartment over the garage too. These are sometimes referred to as mother-in-law's quarters.

Many communities now welcome the creation of Elder Cottage Housing development in their area, because it creates more affordable living spaces for the elderly, and it encourages families to live close to their aging parents so they'll have emergency help if and when it's needed. You'll need to check with your local housing authority or licensing boards though, to find out if there are specific zoning and legal issues that will need to be addressed. In most cases, the extra residence for your aging parents will need to have it's own bathroom, kitchen, and entryway.

If you plan to build a permanent housing structure for your aging parents, you'll also need to work several other choices into your planning stage. How much room would your parent's like for their housing for instance? It's common for Elderly Cottage housing to be as small as 600 square feet for instance, but this may be a difficult transition for your aging parents if they've lived in a 3000 square foot home for the last twenty years.

You'll also need to decide whether parking space will be needed for your aging parents, and whether handicap access is important. Your aging parents may not need wheelchair access right now for instance, but that could be a requirement in the future.

Another popular living arrangement for aging parents is to simply create a separate living space for them within your own home. If you have a basement for instance, that can be converted into a full fledged apartment with basic cooking and bathroom facilities. A basement or garage apartment can even have a separate entrance if desired too.

If mom and dad aren't yet ready to give up their own home though, you may want to consider having a roommate move in with them. In many cases, you can have a younger person live there, be on hand for emergencies, take care of cooking and cleaning, all in exchange for room and board.