Fri Jun 25, 2021, 01:15 AM

No children allowed. Are wealthy CT towns building elderly housing to keep out poor families?

Heart and lung afflictions have Dave D’Amelio struggling to get around these days.

Climbing the hills at his public housing complex with his portable oxygen tank in tow often leaves him fighting to breathe. There’s no elevator, and the lift that gets him to his second-floor apartment occasionally breaks, so he carries his cell phone everywhere in case he gets stuck. When he needs to do laundry, he rolls his basket down the hill to where his car is parked and drives it to the building with the machines, rather than walk it up the hill to the next building over.

This 71-year old retired bartender worries about how he is going to navigate the complex and his tiny, 250-square foot efficiency apartment — with its steep doorway lip and a screen door that won’t stay open — if he eventually needs a wheelchair.

His complex is reserved for the elderly, though some residents joke that the original owner built the complex to have somewhere to put his mother, whom he didn’t like very much.

Read more: https://ctmirror.org/2021/06/20/no-children-allowed-are-wealthy-ct-towns-building-elderly-housing-to-keep-out-poor-families/

3 replies, 2226 views

Thread info Bookmark this thread Trash this thread

Reply to this thread

Always highlight: 10 newest replies | Replies posted after I mark a forum

Replies to this discussion thread

3 replies	Author	Time	Post
No children allowed. Are wealthy CT towns building elderly housing to keep out poor families? (Original post)	TexasTowelie	Jun 2021	OP
Well, around here we have a huge number of "55+" developments. My feeling has always been that...	TreasonousBastard	Jun 2021	#1
"The reality is that the elderly have many more options to find housing than do people with children	Demovictory9	Jun 2021	#2
It's affordable because it's incredibly small.	Phoenix61	Jun 2021	#3

Response to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Fri Jun 25, 2021, 01:23 AM

TreasonousBastard (42,428 posts)

1. Well, around here we have a huge number of "55+" developments. My feeling has always been that...

aside from any subsidies or grants they get for that, the towns love them because it means fewer school kids and probably fewer cops.

Cops and schools are the two biggest expenses, so reducing that load is the secret sauce.

Now, disabled and truly elderly give no such benefits, but actual expenses, so they are cut out of it.

Reply to this post

Response to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Fri Jun 25, 2021, 01:27 AM

Demovictory9 (29,934 posts)

2. "The reality is that the elderly have many more options to find housing than do people with children

“The reality is that the elderly have many more options to find housing than do people with children. … There’s a lot more [affordable housing] built for older people, and in a way it’s discriminatory because of who lives longer in this country,” said Denes, the former longtime chairman of the Branford Housing Authority.

In Connecticut, reserving affordable housing for the elderly does have the potential to disproportionately benefit white people, since 84% of those over age 65 are white, compared to 67% statewide.

Reply to this post

Response to Demovictory9 (Reply #2)

Fri Jun 25, 2021, 04:03 AM

Phoenix61 (16,315 posts)

3. It's affordable because it's incredibly small.

Hotel rooms are larger than 250 sq/ft. For a family would need to be at least two bedrooms so they can’t build as many. Also, old people can be poor and nice. People may even feel sorry for them. Young poor people are lazy and should work harder. Look at what folks are saying about people who won’t go back to working in restaurants.
I certainly don’t think they are lazy but you know a lot of folks do. Also, not as many people are going to push back against an old folks subsidized apartment complex near them but a lot will push back against subsidized housing for families.

Reply to this post

Connecticut (Group)