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these programs are meant for people who haven't been as fortunate. I don't want to feel greedy (even though it means we probably can't be near the beach in California). It's ok, we can find other good places to retire that aren't as pricey.
We visited a building in historic downtown Seattle recently. The view from the terrace roof top is to kill for. Great amenities -- 60" TV in giant "play room", small gym, free wi-fi, lounge chairs and bistro tables on rooftop, P-patch gardens, W&D and trash compactor/chute on every floor, free city bus within the area, yoga, cooking, investment lessons, cultural exhibits, etc. Walking distance to everywhere -- international markets, Pike Place, baseball and football stadiums, the piers, etc.
The tenants include a chef, several artists, a lecturer, a couple of athletes.
It is a tax-credit and income-restricted senior housing.
We loved the location. We loved the view. We loved the complex. The unit is small, but we can deal with it. We're qualified for it. However, we turned it down because of the very limited garage space. We do not want to sell the car, park on the street, or pay for monthly parking in commercial structures.
When the contract with the local government ends and if the owners chose not to renew it, the new rent would be astronomical due to the location. That's the true story of some senior tax-credit housing. In some situations, tax-credit housing are not for the very poor and the very needy anymore. Their incomes are still below certain limits (varied by the locations -- 52K for two people at that location, IIRC) but they are the middle class, the professionals, the intellectuals, the talented artists, and the entrepreneurs. They all enjoy the housing offer when it's available and while it lasts.
Last edited by Ol' Wanderer; 12-17-2011 at 01:55 PM..
In most tax-credit housing, you pay whatever the rent is determined because it is already decided as low enough. Only the Section 8 recipients pay the 30% of their income, while the rest of the tenants pay the listed (higher but still low when comparing with the market) rent.
In my state (Mass.), Section 8 is a program separate from "income-based" senior housing. Section 8 has very long waiting lists but when accepted you can live anywhere, even a house or apartment owned by a landlord (not necessarily housing in a complex)...and someone pointed out, you can take that Section 8 anywhere in the country.
With income-based, it is complex-specific, or housing authority-specific, within the state you reside. The amount of rent is calculated at 30% of total income (what is unclear to me as what they figure in, in terms of your assets). You need only get onto the lists and wait till your name comes up, then they do your verification paperwork. You are applying to "subsidized" senior housing, specifically (sometimes mixed in with family subsidized housing in the same complex). Typically, as In_NewEngland pointed out, in this state these are usually high-rise complexes with tiny sq foot (500-600) and no washer/dryer allowed in the apts.
Anyway, after reading a lot of material on it, that's what I've gathered.
Tax considerations are very important. We need to try to stay in the states with the lowest tax burdens. Now we're seeing a thread dealing with gun ownership and armed defense which deals with the issue of life itself. So we've added another crucial requirement.
States with the least burdensome taxes and least burdensome gun laws are often the same states. My own state of Wyoming easily rates at the top of both groups. We have low crime as well, another feature of states with the fewest gun laws and taxes.
Old people who've been responsible have assets to protect. Let's see which states make that most practical. We could also ask which states are friendliest to the better classes; it's the same question. You can't all move to Wyoming; we're not that big.
Tax considerations are very important. We need to try to stay in the states with the lowest tax burdens. Now we're seeing a thread dealing with gun ownership and armed defense which deals with the issue of life itself. So we've added another crucial requirement.
States with the least burdensome taxes and least burdensome gun laws are often the same states. My own state of Wyoming easily rates at the top of both groups. We have low crime as well, another feature of states with the fewest gun laws and taxes.
Old people who've been responsible have assets to protect. Let's see which states make that most practical. We could also ask which states are friendliest to the better classes; it's the same question. You can't all move to Wyoming; we're not that big.
I agree on the wisdom of finding a low-tax state in retirement, and one with low crime. There may or may not be a correlation between those, and states with liberal gun laws.
(aside: Not only "responsible" people have assets to protect. Some of the most irresponsible people in the world have a great deal of assets. And, the "better classes" would be??? never mind, the subject of another thread).
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Happy in Wyoming
... States with the least burdensome taxes and least burdensome gun laws are often the same states. ...You can't all move to Wyoming; we're not that big.
I don't think you have to worry about a senior movement to WY, tho I agree it is a great choice. (Especially the State senior home at Thermopolis Park).
Alaska is pretty big, and may be slightly better rated than WY on taxation and gun rights. We can send excess seniors to Alaska! They will enjoy the ferry ride, we will tell them it is an Alaska Cruise It has some pretty nice areas.
(aside: Not only "responsible" people have assets to protect. Some of the most irresponsible people in the world have a great deal of assets. And, the "better classes" would be??? never mind, the subject of another thread).
Responsible means managing one's life in a responsible manner. By the time people are old enough to read this section of the forum with more than idle interest it means having assets worth protecting. Remember the old saying, "A fool and his money are soon parted."
If you wish to know who the better classes are and what they think just read my posts. Consider me the paragon.
Quote:
Originally Posted by StealthRabbit
I don't think you have to worry about a senior movement to WY, tho I agree it is a great choice. (Especially the State senior home at Thermopolis Park).
Wyoming is becoming a popular retirement state for those who seek to escape bad things and find good things. We seem to be getting a bunch from the Deep South, California, and Oregon in this part of the state.
The old people's home in Thermop is, I suspect, not really where most people here wish to end their days. I've never heard anyone mention it favorably, or in any other way for that matter, except you. I'm not being mean, just honest.
Quote:
Originally Posted by StealthRabbit
Alaska is pretty big, and may be slightly better rated than WY on taxation and gun rights.
There was (or perhaps still is) a rather charming native custom in Alska. Those deemed ready to die were placed on an ice floe and allowed to drift out to sea. I've heard that they would just fall asleep.
Alaska taxes are low but the cost of living is high. Wyoming and Vermont are the only two states where people neither need concealed carry permits nor are they required to inform police in a traffic stop that they're armed. So we beat Arizona and Alaska on gun laws. But we still have a few more things to address on that issue, primarily on recognition of rights for residents of other states and ridding our state of criminal havens, e.g. failure of recognizing our right to be armed in schools and churches. The church issue is a First Amendment issue as well since many European pagan and a few Christian groups do not consider an unarmed man to be truly a man.
It was 56 here today, five days from the winter solstice.
Wyoming is solvent.
On December 23rd, assuming the suns starts moving north instead of falling into the sea , we'll be celebrating Sol Invictus, the feast of the unconquered sun. Come join us.
Responsible means managing one's life in a responsible manner. By the time people are old enough to read this section of the forum with more than idle interest it means having assets worth protecting. Remember the old saying, "A fool and his money are soon parted."
If you wish to know who the better classes are and what they think just read my posts. Consider me the paragon.
Assets do not a responsible person make (Shakespeare?) Better classes all migrated West?
What is considered affordable for the average retiree (regular class) in Wyoming?
I don't think you have to worry about a senior movement to WY, tho I agree it is a great choice. (Especially the State senior home at Thermopolis Park).
Alaska is pretty big, and may be slightly better rated than WY on taxation and gun rights. We can send excess seniors to Alaska! They will enjoy the ferry ride, we will tell them it is an Alaska Cruise It has some pretty nice areas.
The gov't will soon be deporting all seniors beyond Alaska to get them off the SS and Medicare rolls. Or at a permanent address offshore (endless cruise)?
Yes, with housing authority complexes you pay 1/3 of your income and that includes all. You can have (I think) $3000 in the bank for two people and you can each have a car. If you have more than $3000 in the bank, they will take a small % of it each year. Not bad but the apartments are terrible. They are more like efficiency apartments and are less than 400 square feet with zero storage. No washer allowed either. A lot of them were built in the 60s and 70s and were not maintained so they are usually dumpy and rundown, have mold problems, rotting windows, plumbing issues, etc. The grounds are not kept up either. These are federally subsidized. This is Massachusetts--I don't know about other states.
Then there are the ones that are being called "tax credit"--we have those, usually high rises. Not my cup of tea but the apartments are decent sized.
Then we have a few that seem to be a combination of state and private--these are newer and nicer and cleaner than the housing authority places. They seem to be a little bit larger too. Still no washers--you go to an on-site laundromat. You also have to live alone, as with all the places, unless you are married. Some of them have indoor community rooms though for socialization--a nice touch. No place for exercise though, no grounds to walk around on or to get exercise from gardening, not even a place to put a chair outside to enjoy the nice weather.
There's little else unless you can afford one of the extremely expensive new condos. Sounds like some of us should be moving to the west coast for housing. Just joking, we don't want to take your nice housing away and most of us who live here want to stay here. What a huge lack of housing for seniors in the near future as I am sure not all the boomers will retire rich.
Section 8--I say go for it if you can wait a few years and you think your income will be within the limits by the time you are accepted. (Different depending upon where you live.) Section 8 shouldn't just be for families, seniors should get a shot at it too but a lot of them don't know about it. You can get out of the depressing apartment complexes and have a washer, a small yard, feel human again. So many people on section 8 are druggies and long term welfare recipients that it has a bad reputation but it would seem that qualified responsible retirees would be welcome--and more deserving, in general. It seems to be administered by the housing authorities because it's federal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by newenglandgirl
In my state (Mass.), Section 8 is a program separate from "income-based" senior housing. Section 8 has very long waiting lists but when accepted you can live anywhere, even a house or apartment owned by a landlord (not necessarily housing in a complex)...and someone pointed out, you can take that Section 8 anywhere in the country.
With income-based, it is complex-specific, or housing authority-specific, within the state you reside. The amount of rent is calculated at 30% of total income (what is unclear to me as what they figure in, in terms of your assets). You need only get onto the lists and wait till your name comes up, then they do your verification paperwork. You are applying to "subsidized" senior housing, specifically (sometimes mixed in with family subsidized housing in the same complex). Typically, as In_NewEngland pointed out, in this state these are usually high-rise complexes with tiny sq foot (500-600) and no washer/dryer allowed in the apts.
Anyway, after reading a lot of material on it, that's what I've gathered.
Or at a permanent address offshore (endless cruise)?
Last year, I met a woman who has been living aboard one cruise after another, between six to eight months every year, for the last four or five years. She said the out-of-pocket money for the almost-permanent cruise is the same as the cost of maintaining her own home, but the value is much higher considering she has a (cruise) staff of hundreds people available at all times. She comes home a few months of the year for her medical checkup and to assure her children that she is well and not yet out of her mind.
Last edited by Ol' Wanderer; 12-17-2011 at 10:30 PM..
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I don't think you have to worry about a senior movement to WY, tho I agree it is a great choice. (Especially the State senior home at Thermopolis Park).
It has some pretty nice areas.
I've heard that they would just fall asleep. 
, we'll be celebrating Sol Invictus, the feast of the unconquered sun. Come join us. 
