20 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • FEBRUARY 2020
PRESS BUSINESS
SENIOR HOUSING DEVELOPERS EYE FUTURE NEEDS
continued from page 19
Other companies in the assisted
living industry agree that, at present,
the Island is just about filled to
capacity.
The conclusion the operators have
come to is yet another signal that
Long Island, home to America’s first
suburb and a mecca for young families
in the post-World War II boom, is
aging rapidly.
And the need for more such facilities
on LI will grow in years to come, says
Claire Bukzin-Hakim, executive
vice president of the Empire State
Association of Assisted Living, which
represents operators. She said the
facilities have a special appeal.
“It’s a structured environment,”
Bukzin-Hakim says. “Every day, you
can meet a new friend.”
According to the independent, nonprofit
Center For an Urban Future,
Long Island’s older adult population
increased by 27.9 percent during
the past decade, from 379,242 residents
aged 65 and over in 2007 to
484,862 in 2017. The Island’s overall
population increased by 3.7 percent
(from 2,760,505 to 2,862,310) and the
under-65 population decreased by 0.1
percent (from 2,381,263 to 2,377,448).
Developers have taken advantage
of the boom. Sunrise Senior Living,
based in Northern Virginia, operates
10 assisted living communities on the
Island, with another, in Huntington,
scheduled to open in January.
Several others are in Sunrise’s planning
stages on the Island. Altogether,
the company operated 349 such facilities
in the U.S. and Canada. Sunrise
built the nation’s first assisted living
community, 36 years ago, in Virginia.
“There is a growing need for these
facilities” as the U.S population ages,
says Philip Kroskin, Sunrise’s senior
vice president for real estate.
People 65 to 74 were the largest
among three age groups in the
U.S., numbering 28.7 million, of
the 329.45 million people in the
country. Some of those 65 to 74
often no longer have a need for a
private home. Those not in need of
medical care seek assisted living
communities, which provide dining
rooms and chances for socializing.
At nursing homes, the main thrust
is clinical care, while at assisted
living communities, the focus is on
socialization.
Beth Mace, chief economist and director
of outreach for the National
Investment Center for Senior Housing
& Care, a nonprofit in Annapolis,
Md., said the occupancy rates for assisted
living facilities on Long Island
are near capacity. Occupancy rates
in Nassau and Suffolk this year are
89.5 percent.
More facilities are being built, but
the real growth is expected to come
in 2030, when the last of the large
baby boom generation (born 1946 to
1964) reaches their mid-60s.
But the red flags are already being
raised, experts say. With wages
stagnant now for years, and the number
of companies offering pensions
declining, the question is how many
seniors in the future will be able to
afford to live in assisted living communities,
which can cost thousands
of dollars per month, depending on
the facility.
Burman says he is convinced
plenty of seniors will be choosing
assisted living in the future, despite
costs, because there are not many
alternatives.
“There’s no question we’re going to
have a lot of takers,” Burman says.
“At some point, there will be too many of
these places on Long Island,” said Jan Burman.
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