CLTC survey finds elderly are most likely to object to neighborhood facilities.

Consider this scenario: residents of a middle-class neighborhood hear about plans to build an assisted living facility near their homes. Almost everyone in the neighborhood thinks it's a great idea.

Everyone, that is, except for the oldest person in the neighborhood, a not-quite senior citizen who thinks such a facility will be an eyesore, cause traffic jams, bring down property values and may be even put people's lives at risk by bringing "unsavory" people into the area.

It may sound strange, perhaps even backward, but the most likely people to voice NIMBY objections (Not In My Back Yard) are the people closest to requiring the services of a long term care facility. That's according to a national survey commissioned by Contemporary Long Term Care, which revealed that nearly twice as many respondents age 65-plus would have some objection to construction of a nursing home or assisted living facility within their residential neighborhoods, compared to younger age groups.

According to the national telephone survey of 1,055 men and women ages 18 to 65-plus, 15 percent of respondents age 65 or older would have some objection to the new facility, compared to 9 percent overall.

"I'm surprised by the survey's finding," said Richard Grimes, president and chief executive officer of the Assisted Living Federation of America in Fairfax, Va. "You would think (seniors) would look at the convenience of staying in their neighborhood should they or their spouse happen to need personal or skilled nursing service."

Grimes said the higher number from seniors voicing disagreement might be due to personal concerns. "Maybe it makes them feel a bit awkward to see the facility and think that in 10 to 20 years they might end up there," he said. "Maybe it's a sub conscious case of 'I don't really want to deal with this.'"

On the other hand, the results also indicated that more than eight out of every 10 seniors would not object to development of a nursing home or assisted living facility in their neighborhoods, compared to nearly nine out of 10 for all other age groups and 88 percent overall.

In general, the October 2004 survey conducted by Princeton, N.J.-based Opinion Research Corp. indicated that consumers said there was nothing wrong with having a nursing home or assisted living facility in a residential neighborhood.

That assessment makes sense, according to Grimes. "We haven't heard of any problems with people locating and building these (facilities) at all," he said. "It's never been an issue, and I don't think it's going to be.... They fit very easily into residential neighborhoods."

To emphasize his point, Grimes noted that assisted living facilities tend to boost the local economy. "It's a good, stable employer for the area," he said. "They're seen as a long-term economic investment for the community. You don't see a lot of them closing. They're around to stay."

William Harris, director of long term care at Humility House, a nursing home and assisted living facility in Austintown, Ohio, also stressed the economic push such facilities offer. Harris said his facility offers the neighboring community valuable services, such as 100 new jobs, and acts as a polling place during elections time. "Since we opened in 1999, we have not have any negative issues at all," he said. "In fact, because we provide such valuable services to the neighborhood, reaction has been very, very positive."

The CLTC survey also supported that positive assessment across demographic categories such as age, geography, race, income, household size and education level.

Respondents in the Western states--Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Nevada--were most accepting of new facilities, with 92 percent saying they'd have no objections.

Between 86 and 88 percent of respondents in the survey's other three regions--Northeast, North Central and South--had similar feelings.

By race, 92 percent of Hispanic respondents had no objections, compared to 88 percent of White and 87 percent of Black respondents.

Men were slightly more likely than women to object to a new facility, although the approval totals were still high in both cases: 87 percent in favor for men and 89 percent in favor for women.

By income, 95 percent of respondents with annual household earnings of $25,000 to $35,000 had no objections. This figure tapered off as the income brackets got larger, dropping to 85 percent in households with the highest annual wages, $75,000 or more.

Ray Lewis, senior vice president and chief investment officer for Ventas Healthcare Properties in Louisville, Ky., said the finding that higher-income people were more likely to object to new facilities seemed "logical."

"They're the ones who most want to preserve the residential character of their neighborhoods," Lewis said. "They typically object to any residential development."

Household size made little difference in the survey, with 88 percent to 90 percent of respondents saying they would have no objections, regardless of how big the household was the age of the kids.

College graduates were the most likely to have no objections (90 percent), while those who did not complete either high school or college were least likely to have no objections (87 percent).

The survey also asked consumers whether they viewed long term care facilities as a weight on their property values. The findings again were positive for the industry, though the fear could not be dismissed. The survey found 67 percent of respondents said having a facility in their area would have no effect on their property values, 12 percent thought it would decrease the value. Only 6 percent thought it would increase the value, and 15 percent said they didn't know.

By gender, 70 percent of responding women and 65 percent of men said they thought the facility's presence would not affect property values; twice as many men--16 percent to 8 percent for women--thought it was likely to lower their values.

An increasing number of respondents in each age group, starting at age 18 to 24 (59 percent), did not think the facility would impact their property values, peaking with the 45 to 54-year-old age group at 75 percent. "This probably reflects their status as the largest consumers of the services," Lewis said.

Regionally, 71 percent of respondents from the North Central states--Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas--said they thought having these facilities in their neighborhood would not impact their property values; compared to 66 to 67 percent for each of the other three regions.

By race, 69 percent of white respondents said they thought the facilities would not impact property values, compared to 65 to 66 percent for Hispanic or black respondents.

In terms of income, seven of every 10 respondents stated they believed having a facility near their home would not affect property values--except for those making $35,000 to $50,000 per year, where six in 10 thought this way.

By education, high school or college graduates were more likely to believe the nursing home or assisted living facility would not impact home values (68 and 69 percent, respectively). High school drop-outs were almost twice as likely to believe that such places would decrease home values and also most likely to believe facilities would increase values, compared to high school graduates.

Still, industry experts warned that what people say while considering a hypothetical situation can differ greatly when the reality faces them. While most residential projects do end up relatively problem-free, there are issues to contend with when bringing long term care to a community.

Residents may be perfectly amicable to the idea of an assisted living facility or nursing home coming to the neighborhood but change their views once they see the actual plans for the business, according to Paul Horvitz, president of Dominion Healthcare Financial Corp. in Los Angeles.

"No one wants to exclude senior citizens and disabled people from getting services--as long as it's theoretical," Horvitz said. "But as soon as it becomes part of their specific neighborhood plan, you're going to find a much larger percentage of the population objecting to it."

That's when issues such as increased traffic, affected property values and even types of residents housed by the facility start to go before city or county planning commissions, Horvitz said.

In turn, the developer ends up with requirements for zoning variances, environmental impact reports, traffic studies and even written permission from neighbors--even if the facility already has proper zoning, according to Horvitz.

Survey By Age
How would you react to a nursing home or
assisted living facility being located near you?

          No Objection   Mild Objection  Strong Objection   Don't Know

18-24          91%             7%               1%              2%
25-35          88%             6%               3%              2%
35-44          90%             4%               2%              3%
45-54          91%             7%               2%              1%
55-64          89%             6%               2%              2%
65 Plus        80%             7%               8%              5%

18-24                1%
25-34                3%
35-44                2%
45-54                2%
55-64                2%
65+                  8%

** NOTE: Totals may not equal 100 percent due to rounding

If a nursing home or assisted living facility were near
your home, how would it affect your property value?

Overall

Have no effect   67%
Don't Know       15%
Increase value    6%
Decrease value   12%

** NOTE: Totals may not equal 100 percent due to rounding.

Note: Table made from pie chart.

How would you react to a nursing home or
assisted living facility being located near you?

Overall

No objection      89%
Mild Objection     6%
Strong Ojection    3%
Don't Know         2%

** NOTE: Totals may not equal to 100 percent due to rounding.

Note: Table made from pie chart.

How would you react to a nursing home or
assisted living facility being located near you?

Survey By
Household Income

                    No         Mild       Strong     Don't
                 Objection   Objection   Objection   Know

Less than $25K      86%          6%          4%       4%
$25K-$35K           95%          1%          2%       1%
$35K-$50K           91%          6%          2%       1%
$50K-$75K           91%          7%          2%       1%
$75K Plus           85%         10%          3%       2%

** NOTE: Totals may not equal 100 percent due to rounding.

Note: Table made from bar graph.

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