Century Lives

We’re an aging nation. By 2050, for the first time ever, Americans over age 60 will outnumber those aged 10 to 24. Older adults increasingly prefer aging in place, so the need for technologies that support activities of daily living, mobility, and social connection is growing.  In Century Lives: The AgeTech Revolution, we travel to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where we and 150,000 of our closest friends scope out the technologies that claim they will improve our lives as we grow older. We ask: What do we want our final quarter of life to look like? And can the AgeTech industry actually improve the ways we live our longer lives?

For aging adults, a loss of mobility often means the end of freedom and independence. In this episode, we talk to innovators who are developing exoskeletons and other robotic devices that rely on AI to help people move better and longer. We focus particularly on a company called Dephy, which makes sneakers that boost your ability to walk. The company’s founder describes them as e-bikes for your feet.

By 2030, every Baby Boomer will be 65 or older. Many of these older adults will live alone and on limited incomes, and many will have mobility and other health challenges. This so-called “silver tsunami” is here to stay, and the math is ominous. The nation already has a housing shortage—and a senior-care shortage. On the plus side, many of these older folks will be healthier and more active, engaged, and tech-savvy than their peers in prior generations. But since their housing needs and preferences will also differ from those of their predecessors, new questions and challenges will arise. On Century Lives: The Home Stretch, we explore signs of hope and inspiration in communities where housing innovations for older adults are already afoot.

We open our final episode of the season to housing questions from our listeners. How do I adjust to living in my adult child’s home? What are the benefits of living in a senior housing community on a college campus? Do I stay near my friends, or move to where relatives can help with my care? Fielding questions for the hour are host Ken Stern and renowned “place planning” expert Ryan Frederick.

By 2030, every Baby Boomer will be 65 or older. Many of these older adults will live alone and on limited incomes, and many will have mobility and other health challenges. This so-called “silver tsunami” is here to stay, and the math is ominous. The nation already has a housing shortage—and a senior-care shortage. On the plus side, many of these older folks will be healthier and more active, engaged, and tech-savvy than their peers in prior generations. But since their housing needs and preferences will also differ from those of their predecessors, new questions and challenges will arise. On Century Lives: The Home Stretch, we explore signs of hope and inspiration in communities where housing innovations for older adults are already afoot.

The ability of older adults to age in place at home and their community can be threatened by a single fall or mobility challenge. But sometimes the difference between a house that’s manageable and safe and one that’s not comes down to small things, like a grab bar, a hand railing, a rug that’s tacked down, or a robotic vacuum. Fifteen years ago, a nurse at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore came up with a unique, low-cost approach to making these kinds of changes in seniors’ homes, and it’s now a nationwide program called CAPABLE. The savings they’ve proven in hospitalizations and nursing home costs are astounding. As they like to say: Home is where the health is.

By 2030, every Baby Boomer will be 65 or older. Many of these older adults will live alone and on limited incomes, and many will have mobility and other health challenges. This so-called “silver tsunami” is here to stay, and the math is ominous. The nation already has a housing shortage—and a senior-care shortage. On the plus side, many of these older folks will be healthier and more active, engaged, and tech-savvy than their peers in prior generations. But since their housing needs and preferences will also differ from those of their predecessors, new questions and challenges will arise. On Century Lives: The Home Stretch, we explore signs of hope and inspiration in communities where housing innovations for older adults are already afoot.

Older adults are the fastest-growing age group falling into homelessness: The population of unhoused older adults is expected to triple from 2017 to 2030. We discuss its roots in the shortage of housing in the U.S. and visit San Diego to learn about some solutions to the growing crisis of senior homelessness.

There is nowhere near enough housing available in the U.S. for low-income older adults. Even people who qualify for government subsidies often cannot find a place to move (and what is available often lacks the support services an aging community needs). In episode 3 of Century Lives: The Home Stretch, we visit 2Life Communities in Boston, a developer that has developed low-income housing for older adults for decades. 2Life is held up as a model for what low-income housing for older adults can be: attractive, safe, engaging, and even joyous. We visit 2Life to learn how they can create low-income housing for older adults when so many other developers struggle.