Ipswich - Senior Housing/Agawam Village (Rowley: low income, apartments, homes)

[october2007]

Does anyone live in the low income senior housing in Ipswich (Agawam Village)? I am familiar with Ipswich but would like info about these apartments and whether or not they are decent etc. I am out of state so can't go look at them myself. Thanks for any info!

[mdovell]

I would be very careful in anything of senior housing due to covid. I'm not even sure if senior housing and retirement homes can even exist now.

[CaseyB]

Yes, they exist.

[october2007]

Originally Posted by mdovell

I would be very careful in anything of senior housing due to covid. I'm not even sure if senior housing and retirement homes can even exist now.

I’m not worried about the Covid aspect. I live in senior housing now. I have applied for housing in Ipswich and am seeking more info about this place in particular. Thank you.

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by CaseyB

Yes, they exist.

right they exist....now. But given the huge amount of deaths that have been concentrated mostly at elderly facilities the idea it could change. The idea that the elderly need to be segregated off from everyone else doesn't work. Reforms will have to be put in place to prevent this from happening again.

https://www.mcknightsseniorliving.co...es-identified/

[Brave Stranger]

Originally Posted by mdovell

right they exist....now. But given the huge amount of deaths that have been concentrated mostly at elderly facilities the idea it could change. The idea that the elderly need to be segregated off from everyone else doesn't work. Reforms will have to be put in place to prevent this from happening again.

https://www.mcknightsseniorliving.co...es-identified/

Senior housing facilities are not like nursing homes or assisted living facilities, where the elderly are generally more ill. There have been no widespread deaths in senior apartments that I'm aware of?

[in_newengland]

I was friends with someone in Agawam Village. The apartments were built back around 1970 and when I knew this person, the buildings were in terrible condition. Maintenance couldn't keep up because they said the place was so far gone it should be demolished. The buildings looked pretty good from the outside but they were falling apart. I think they may have done some renovating about five years ago so it may not be quite as bad as it was. Great location though.

I briefly knew another person who lived who moved out because of the conditions. She had mold all over her shoes just from keeping them in the closet.

MA doesn't seem to put much emphasis on low income senior housing. I haven't been back in a few years but both of the people I knew moved out. The apartments are only 400sq ft. My friend had a tiny kitchenette and at least it had a gas stove but I think it only had three burners and was really cramped. The floors were awful. There have a laundromat that you have to drag your laundry to but my friend didn't mind that. There is very little storage except Agawam Village did have a large storage closet.

I went with my friend to look at other places and they are mostly the same or worse and always tiny. A couple of the nearby towns had newer construction but still, very small and no washer dryer hookups. Byfield, I think, or a town out that way had screened in porches and was newer. There was one other set of low income senior apartments that could be acceptable and they even allowed gardening and had garden plots. It, too, was newish. I don't remember the town though, a very small town it was.

A place that I might recommend would be in Rowley (next to Ipswich) and sort of attached to the Market Basket Plaza with a hairdressers, a TJ Maxx, a drug store--and it's right across the street from the famous Agawam Diner! I saw the inside of that place and it's better than the others because it's run by a partnership of private ownership and the government. No washer or dryer hookups and no place to sit outside, same as most of these places, but the location was great--you could walk to the little shopping plaza and Ipswich was right next door.

That's if that place still exists and if it is still low income senior housing. Mass keeps building luxury apartments for seniors and then there's "affordable housing" which somehow fulfills a town's requirements but from what I heard they don't fit people's budgets--not really that affordable and there was one across from Agawam Village that I heard people moved in and moved right out again.

https://www.byfieldelderlyhousing.com/index.php This MIGHT be one of the places that wasn't too bad. What you should do is call one or more of the housing authorities and see if one of them will spend some time talking to you and suggesting suitable apartments. Waiting lists were long, I remember, and I'm not sure you get much of a choice but this was several years ago. Nice area to live but hard to find an apartment that's low income and is decent unless things have improved.

[CaseyB]

At Apartments.com it says it was built in 1961 so yes, they are old.

[october2007]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

I was friends with someone in Agawam Village. The apartments were built back around 1970 and when I knew this person, the buildings were in terrible condition. Maintenance couldn't keep up because they said the place was so far gone it should be demolished. The buildings looked pretty good from the outside but they were falling apart. I think they may have done some renovating about five years ago so it may not be quite as bad as it was. Great location though.

I briefly knew another person who lived who moved out because of the conditions. She had mold all over her shoes just from keeping them in the closet.

MA doesn't seem to put much emphasis on low income senior housing. I haven't been back in a few years but both of the people I knew moved out. The apartments are only 400sq ft. My friend had a tiny kitchenette and at least it had a gas stove but I think it only had three burners and was really cramped. The floors were awful. There have a laundromat that you have to drag your laundry to but my friend didn't mind that. There is very little storage except Agawam Village did have a large storage closet.

I went with my friend to look at other places and they are mostly the same or worse and always tiny. A couple of the nearby towns had newer construction but still, very small and no washer dryer hookups. Byfield, I think, or a town out that way had screened in porches and was newer. There was one other set of low income senior apartments that could be acceptable and they even allowed gardening and had garden plots. It, too, was newish. I don't remember the town though, a very small town it was.

A place that I might recommend would be in Rowley (next to Ipswich) and sort of attached to the Market Basket Plaza with a hairdressers, a TJ Maxx, a drug store--and it's right across the street from the famous Agawam Diner! I saw the inside of that place and it's better than the others because it's run by a partnership of private ownership and the government. No washer or dryer hookups and no place to sit outside, same as most of these places, but the location was great--you could walk to the little shopping plaza and Ipswich was right next door.

That's if that place still exists and if it is still low income senior housing. Mass keeps building luxury apartments for seniors and then there's "affordable housing" which somehow fulfills a town's requirements but from what I heard they don't fit people's budgets--not really that affordable and there was one across from Agawam Village that I heard people moved in and moved right out again.

https://www.byfieldelderlyhousing.com/index.php This MIGHT be one of the places that wasn't too bad. What you should do is call one or more of the housing authorities and see if one of them will spend some time talking to you and suggesting suitable apartments. Waiting lists were long, I remember, and I'm not sure you get much of a choice but this was several years ago. Nice area to live but hard to find an apartment that's low income and is decent unless things have improved.

Thanks for the good information. I did read that they did some renovations in 2017 I think. But your description doesn’t sound that appealing. I’m on the waiting list for many towns but I am nearing top in Ipswich. I live in one in Seattle and it is very tiny but pretty good condition for a building built in the 60s or so. I will check out the Byfield link thank you.

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by Brave Stranger

Senior housing facilities are not like nursing homes or assisted living facilities, where the elderly are generally more ill. There have been no widespread deaths in senior apartments that I'm aware of?

Well yes.


https://www.leadingage.org/almost-60...-even-more-are

"A survey of nonprofit senior housing providers by LeadingAge, the association of nonprofit providers of aging services, reveals that more than half (59.7%) of respondents are aware of confirmed COVID-19 cases in their communities. "

The death rate mostly is 81 in mass but hospitalization is from mid 60s and up. If infection control isn't enforced if will spread. Income isn't a factor