[Part two in a series chronicling our experiences assisting the Detroit Housing Commission (DHC). For further description, refer to our first housing narrative post.]
House No. 3: My car’s wipers intermittently clear our line of sight. My colleague and I drive past two vacant homes, a vacant school, three vacant lots, and a vacant business. Finally, we turn onto a block where most of the houses seem to be intact. The rain is pouring down and we are unprepared. Holding clip boards over our heads, we make a dash to the home’s covered porch.
We ring the doorbell. “Who is it?” an elderly woman yells through a door that remains locked. I answer that we are doing a survey for the Detroit Housing Commission. “I don’t know anything about a survey” she answers. I offer that she can call someone with the Housing Commission and she can confirm our presence with them. The door cracks open. She asks for ID. I offer her a photoless ID as I also start to call my contact at the Housing Commission. Handing the phone to her, she speaks to the person. After a brief conversation, she re-opens the door and only allows me inside. My colleague is left to stand in the rain. I begin the survey. The elderly woman silently follows me into every room.
Aging in Place. The statistics are striking. 89% of 50+ year old Americans intend to remain in their own homes as long as they possibly can. Experts define this as “aging in place.” According to a 2003 National Transportation Availability and Use Survey, 3.5 million Americans never leave their homes, and more than half of the homebound are people with disabilities.
As designers, we must address these striking statistics. With 13.5% of Detroit’s population at or over the age of 60, designers must help the City attract and retain its senior population. As concluded by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), we must create, “…communities that design for livability, empower their residents to remain independent and engaged, and offer a better quality of life.” (more…)
