November 26, 2006.docVIP

November 26, 2006 National Perspectives Creative Housing Ideas for an Aging Population By ELIZABETH ABBOTT PAWTUCKET, R.I. BEFORE moving into her new apartment at a housing development for elderly Asian-Americans here, Wai-Chun Chiu lived alone in an apartment building where everyone spoke English and no one spoke Chinese. Mrs. Chiu, 88, said she felt lonely there, even though it, too, was senior housing. Her limited English made it hard for her to make friends. But the Chinese Christian Church of Rhode Island saw the isolation of Mrs. Chiu and others like her in the congregation. An evangelical congregation based in Pawtucket, the church raised $1.8 million two years ago to buy and convert a small jewelry factory into 17 one-bedroom units. The 12,000-square-foot two-story building, which became available to tenants in January, is next to the congregation’s new church, which was also once a factory. Residents can walk to services and other activities and to a small library in the church’s basement that is well stocked with Chinese movies. “Before this housing, they were all isolated,” said Jane Song, a church volunteer, who runs a weekly tai chi class for residents. The church’s project is just one of dozens of Rhode Island developments designed to address the needs of the state’s aging population. According to the 2000 census, Rhode Island ranks sixth in the nation for the proportion of residents over age 65. For people over 75, the fastest-growing segment of the state’s population, it ranks fifth. “Certainly, there is a growing need to provide more senior housing, especially in urban areas,” said Susan Boddington, deputy director of the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation, the state’s affordable-housing agency. There are currently 204 federally subsidized senior housing developments in Rhode Island with a total of nearly 20,000 apartments. Additionally, many local housing authorities offer some subsidized senior housing. But many of those uni