private parlors, a crafts room, a central office, a kitchen and a dining room for special entertaining, and a laundry. Low-Rent • A low-rent housing program for older persons is administered by Housing the Public Housing Administration. PHA also provides Federal fiProgram nancial and technical assistance to local housing authorities in this field. A good example of a new public housing project entirely for the elderly was constructed in 1961 in the Midwest at a cost of less than $600,000 for 50 units. This low-rent project serves both single elderly persons and elderly families whose admission annual income limits are fixed at $2,100 $2,900. Rents range from $30 to $45 a month. The average age of tenants is 78. The project is part of a complex that includes a denominational hospital and a county nursing home. By the end of 1962, applications received and units programmed amounted to almost 133,000 specially designed housing units for older people in these three HHFA programs. They had a potential investment value of $1.6 billion. Most of the activity under these programs has occurred since 1960. Since then, applications received and units programmed have amounted to 88,000 units, compared with 44,000 for the previous 5 years. Actual commitments under all three programs at the end of 1962 totaled 76,000, worth $950 million, of which 48,000, worth $620 million, were commitments since 1960. The units completed at the end of 1962 totaled 18,000, worth $227 million. Up to 1961, only 4,300 units with a dollar investment value of $53 million had been completed. In addition, each of the programs had a backlog of applications and reservations in process at the end of 1962 totaling almost 33,000 units. The mortgage-insurance program for nursing homes has made rapid progress since getting underway in 1960. By the end of 1962, the program had commitments to insure mortgages for new or rehabilitated nursing homes providing 13,000 beds. Besides the HHFA housing programs, the Congress set up in 1962 housing programs administered by the Farmers Home Administration for older people living in rural areas. The programs provide lowinterest, long-term loans and loan insurance to help rural residents 62 or over, on farms or in small towns, to build or rent new homes or modernize old ones. Housing In addition to the Federal programs, a number of State housing Projects Other agencies-notably in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New YorkThan Federal have assisted communities with the building and operation of public housing units for older people at low rents. Private developers and religious and labor groups have built retirement villages, mainly with housing purchased by the occupants and mainly in warmer parts of the country. Religious groups have stepped up the building of residential facilities for the aged and have introduced the residence club or large apartment-type building. In some areas, retirement hotels have been established by private owners. These have usually been older hotels taken over for the purpose of providing housing for the elderly at a flat monthly fee for room and board. The amount of private housing which has been made available to older people without the aid of Federal funds is unknown, but the number of units is small in relation to the need. While the progress has been rapid-for housing built with the aid of both the Federal Government and the States-the actual number of units built is only a small contribution to the need. But, the basic effort toward improving the housing of older people is underway. Expansion of the efforts will require continued thought, energy, and capital by all levels of government and by private industry. For only when both private and public interest have been focused on the problem will real progress be made toward satisfying the need for adequate housing for older Americans. RETIREMENT PLANNING AND COUNSELING The adjustments many older Americans face when they retire are as drastic as any they have ever faced in their lives. Consider, for a moment, the adjustments an older person would need to make if: • His income was cut at least in half. • Leisure time replaced the hours he worked. • His association with coworkers ended. • He no longer had his work to occupy his mind. Many of today's older people have successfully made the adjustments associated with retirement. Many others have not. Recognizing the difficulties in getting used to retirement, some of the Nation's employers, unions, and civic and government leaders have set up retirement planning and counseling programs in recent years. The programs have generally had two purposes: • To tell the people nearing retirement about the adjustments they will have to make and to help change their attitudes about retirement; and • To give them factual information about social security, health, housing, social welfare, investments, recreation, civic activities, legal matters, community resources, and other matters with which they may have had no previous experience. How extensive retirement planning and counseling are among employers and unions is difficult to measure. But it has been estimated that about one-third of the large employers have some type of program. Two of the Nation's biggest unions have a full-time staff working on such programs. Local school systems, recreation departments, and libraries have offered assistance. Several of the Federal Government's agencies have retirement preparation programs and others are considering them. The development of retirement preparation has been led by a dozen or so universities, which have been influential in getting employers and unions interested. The results are hard to measure because the programs have been in operation only a short time and because they vary considerably in quality. But there is no doubt these efforts have been helpful in many cases and should be expanded. In addition to these efforts to help older Americans with their retirement adjustments, more and more communities are providing counseling services for them when they have retired. Many older people need personalized counseling when they are confronted with such decisions as: what to do next; how to change their living arrangements; how to deal with upset family relationships. Some encounter deep emotional problems. Many need help in determining what to do about serious health problems. How to manage on shrunken income is a major problem in itself. If such counseling is available, it is usually part of a general community service for persons of all ages. But in a few large cities special agencies have been set up for older people. Unfortunately, this useful service often is not available. All too frequently, the money, personnel, and inspiration to establish it in communities, either within existing agencies or as a separate function, do not exist. Employers, unions, community leaders, and others have an important role in helping people with their retirement adjustments and difficulties. A tiny beachhead has been won, but it needs to be greatly enlarged. Most of all, those nearing retirement should be encouraged to look ahead and plan for the adjustments they will need to make. A Place in the Community For many retired people, nothing is quite so difficult or quite so important-as maintaining a useful and congenial place in the community around them. As noted earlier, the Older American retires from his job to face reduced income, loss of regular contact with his work companions, rupture of a pattern of life built up over decades-and free time. Perhaps for the first time since childhood, there are extra hours— hours with no demands, perhaps hours in which he can find nothing to do. This is retirement. This is a sudden new way of life for the Older American. He has a different role in society and in his family relations. His self-image is bound to change in some fashion. At the worst, it erodes to a state that has been called "retirement shock." For some, on the other hand, retirement may prove to be the most fruitful period of their lives. Persons retiring 5, 10, or more years from now will be accustomed to more free time in their active, earning years than are most older Americans today. Shorter hours of work per day, shorter workweeks, longer yearly vacations, earlier retirement for all will help prepare tomorrow's Older American for active later years. Retirement will more often be anticipated as an opportunity to embark on a second career, a chance to grow in new interests, find new avenues of creativity, continue to live fully, adventurously, and generously, with the knowledge that activity itself is an essential ingredient of successful living in the later years. But today's picture, all too frequently, is one of disillusioned persons suddenly being forced into a completely strange period of inactivity, with no place to go, nothing to do, no purpose. It is not surprising that many normal men and women react badly to these circumstances. Inertia, boredom, and tentative withdrawal can quickly lead to isolation. And isolation deprives human beings emotionally, spiritually, and socially. Isolation leads to disillusionment and bitterness. It should not-must not-be tolerated in a country that places as high a value as our country does on the worth of each man. Our communities have the primary responsibility. The small villages are no less responsible for the well-being of all their citizens than are the metropolitan areas. Wherever there are people who have retired, who are older, whose lives are no longer full or meaningful or satisfying, there is need for some kind of community action that will give them opportunities for useful, rewarding participation. In 838 communities today there are organized councils on the aging. This is a healthy beginning-but only a beginning. Many more organized programs are needed, and many of those that have been started need to be expanded. Where there are organized councils or service clubs, church groups, or other public and private organizations constant reappraisal is still needed to determine the overall dimensions and scope of the job to be done. Surveys of need are not enough. Research projects alone are not enough. New and expanded programs-going programs concerned with health, social services, housing, recreation, education, and community services are needed in every corner of this country. The nearly 18 million older Americans include many of the potential leaders for these new or expanded programs. Hand-in-hand with community leaders, senior citizens can be instrumental in opening opportunities for community activity to their peers. No community today offers all services needed by its citizens. The greatest single lack is manpower. Conversely, one of the Older American's most poignant needs is an opportunity for purposeful activity. It is vitally important that communities organize programs through which these two needs can serve each other. VOLUNTEER SERVICES The gift of time-enough time to do something for someone else, something for which no payment is expected-is precious indeed. A significant number of older Americans appreciate this, for they are well known in the volunteer offices of many institutions and organizations throughout the country. Seven million service hours were given by volunteers last year in the Veterans Administration's 170 hospitals, and a significant number of these volunteers were over 65 years of age. Another army of volunteers serves the American Red Cross, as motor-corps aides, Gray Ladies, Gray Men, case aides, and in disaster services. They do everything from rolling bandages to teaching arts and crafts to the disabled and those suffering from long-term illnesses. Again, many are grayhaired volunteers. The health and welfare councils throughout this land could not carry on their important community leadership activities without the large number of older members serving on boards and committees. One of the more successful and growing volunteer programs in many communities is a friendly visiting program. Understanding older people, the volunteer visitors have been especially good at bringing friendship and stimulation to lonely people in their homes and in hospitals. But everywhere the cry is heard, "We need more volunteers." Those who volunteer know that the vacancies are there only because enough people have not yet experienced the real satisfaction of doing a job just because they know it needs to be done and think they can do it. Yet many have had this experience, and it has given new meaning to life for many of the retired men and women in our communities. Volunteer opportunities exist in every community. For those with unusual stamina, a sense of adventure, and good health, there are also opportunities overseas. The Peace Corps provided the chance for a man-and-wife team of teachers, 66 and 65 years of age, now busily engaged in Ethiopia. There is a 69-year-old mechanic in Tunisia serving as a Peace Corpsman, and a 76-year-old water-supply engineer in Pakistan. The success of the Peace Corps overseas and the great need for an expansion of voluntary services at home have led to the proposal for a similar program in this country. President Kennedy has asked the Congress to authorize the National Service Corps to promote better |