Groups Join to Design Housing for Seniors, Disabled

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

The fastest growing group in need of affordable housing in Anderson County is among senior citizens. To help find answers, the Anderson Housing and Homeless Alliance was awarded a Community Challenge grant by AARP earlier this year to host a Housing Design Competition for safe and affordable housing for older adults, those who take care of seniors and people with disabilities.

In collaboration with Touch the Future Inc, the group developed materials and guidelines, hosted an information session on the current building conditions in our county, and received a submission for the design of such housing. Five finalists were chosen for a survey among citizens in the county asked to choose the design(s) they deemed to best meet the needs of those in the county.

On Monday, the results of the survey found that most chose a design which would recast an uninhabited commercial building into a townhome setting complete with community building and other communal features designed by Clemson Architecture Graduate Student Jaymz Neumann.

“We wanted it to have a communal feel,” said Neumann. “Tried to design something where people felt like they were part of an actual community.

The goal was universal designs which are age-friendly and which take into account disability or mobility needs.

Anderson County has a higher rate of disability for every age group of adults than the rest of the state and nation. Organizers of the event said seniors with age-related disabilities find it difficult to keep up with housing costs in this area.