Enterprise Housing, a Vital Economic Option for Caregivers

Executive Summary

The goal of this article is to present ideas that may assist individuals and communities to better understand and plan for the needs of caregivers and their need for affordable and appropriate housing.

The need for caregivers is widespread. Every locale wants and needs caregivers. Some cities in the United States, however, are less affordable than others due to the cost of housing and other expenses related to providing care-giving services. Community action is needed that will encourage elected officials, city planners, architects, developers and contractors to work collaboratively to provide housing options that promote and support home based businesses including care giving.

With an ever increasing and long-living aged population, it behooves all of us to carefully examine these issues. We must work with the broad spectrum of the community to better plan the inter-relationships of the social issues, housing and careers of those who can assist all of us in our declining years. After all, most of us will depend on a caregiver one day.

Introduction

I grew up in San Francisco in the mid-1950s. This was a time where the character of many of the neighborhoods was “living above the store”. It was commonplace for multi-generational families to have the family business and the family housed in a single (affordable) structure. Children played in the shop or in the kitchen. Aging parents cared for young children and were cared for by their adult children. Communication technology was simple. No cell phones or pagers, we just shouted out the window or down the stairs for immediate results. It was not perfect but based on the care giving options of the time, the available live-work options made economic sense. A generation of newcomers to this country built communities and equity through home-based businesses. In San Francisco, the number of home-based businesses remains substantial in spite of many obstacles. In 2004, nearly 30,000 San Franciscans worked primarily at home (US Census 1). It is not known how many of these entrepreneurs were also caregivers but anecdotal information tells me that there is significant overlap.

The overlap I personally observe is most often with immediate relatives, parents, siblings and in-laws. With today’s extended families, however, the relationships become more complex. “Extended” can describe physical distance as well as relationships. The old style of caregiving (described above) therefore is not always possible. My recent experiences in San Francisco has alerted me to the growing reality that home-based care giving for many individuals will be provided by a proximate caregiver who may have no familial relation to the individual(s) he/she is assisting. The need for housing that is affordable and appropriate to community and home-based caregiving for these aging individuals is critical.

New Housing Options Should Support Caregivers

Care giving is an important provisioning activity. A 2003 study shows that 1 in 5 U.S. households provided care to relatives and friends. Of this population 70% lived in the home or nearby (NAC & AARP 2). Although many are able to volunteer their time others will need to merge their personal needs with their professional need for employment. Like many important careers (teachers, artists, to name a few) compensation levels often do not match the housing costs in many localities. Couple this dilemma with the environmental and quality of life issues growing out of commuting and you see the need to develop housing options for caregivers that are both affordable and appropriate to the vocation. The University of San Francisco, with local civic and professional housing advocates has launched a research effort to define some optimal housing options for work at home professionals including care givers. The housing design options that are supportive of home based work and care are described in the report Enterprise Housing for San Francisco – The Future of Home-Based Family Businesses. (USF/AND 3).

Why are New Housing Options Needed?

The need for new housing options that are appropriate to home-based caregivers is urgent since the incidence of home-based caregiving is increasing dramatically. It is expected that 1 in 3 households (up from 1 in 5 in 2003) will provide caregiving by 2020 (WSJ 4). Many of these caregivers and clients will live in the same or a nearby residence.

Couple this with what research shows regarding obstacles to in-home caregiving. One survey conducted in 2003 by the National Association for Caregiving asked “ Have you made modifications in the house or apartment where your (charge) lives to make things easier for your (charge)?”. Survey responses indicate that 39% of the caregivers had made such modifications. (NAC 5)

The Enterprise Housing initiative at the University of San Francisco (USF) in partnership with Asian Neighborhood Design (AND) has identified many benefits that flow to caregiver, client and community when both parties are proximate. The AND/USF activities strive to accommodate business operators and customers (including caregivers and clients) whose business operation is in the same residence, housing complex or neighborhood. The result of the implementation of the recommendations contained in this report could result in the construction of affordable live-work options. Due to substantial reductions in commuting to and from the workplace these residential units should build healthy communities and protect the environment.

My First Step

I became concerned with affordable live-work options as a San Francisco resident who heard the complaints of graduates from the best Bay Area Universities who could not afford to purchase a home in San Francisco. Graduates from many schools, including the University of San Francisco found that housing options were not appropriate and/or affordable. Budgets were strained due to high costs for commuting to and from work along with the basic investment of time and money to live in one place and work in another. I see this as both a social justice and a “brain drain” issue. If housing options that meet the AND/USF Enterprise Housing design recommendations were available many more young people and families would be able to live and work in San Francisco.

During this same time period (2000 - 2006) I took note of many city residents who were becoming full-time and part-time caregivers for aging parents. As an academic researcher I see this trend as a significant change in the provisioning responsibility faced by many urban residents in the United States. Many of these individuals have gone from providing care for their children to providing care for their parents (in some cases both). Like the respondents in the NAC survey (above) many of these individuals reported facing obstacles to caregiving due to the physical characteristics of the residential properties. I am not an expert on the housing design needs of caregivers but I hope this article will encourage professional associations that support caregivers to conduct interviews (see exhibits) and catalog appropriate design needs. It is clear to me that design specifications for bedrooms, bathrooms; exercise space, medication storage and security could assist future homebuilders and homebuyers alike.

I urge each caregiver reading this article to educate themselves on the benefits of potential work at home housing design options and to communicate your interest to your local city planners. One way to educate yourself is to complete the activity included in this article (below). As a knowledgeable consumer you can influence city planning and development by communicating with city planners and requesting supportive housing designs from developers and landlords. This will be a slow process but in the end could make it easier and more affordable for more caregivers to provide home-based services. I believe that at-home care will offer significant benefits for the environment and an improved quality of life for caregivers and care recipients.

Your First Step - Reader Activity

Interview a care giving professional.

Purpose:

The purpose of the activity is to identify one or more of the economic obstacles that caregivers in your community face that are directly related to the housing options available to them.

Learning objectives:

1. Identify housing options that support the employment opportunities of care giving professionals.

2. Identify housing options that inhibit the employment opportunities of care giving professionals.

3. Make a preliminary assessment of the inventory of local housing options that support the employment opportunities of care giving professionals.

Target population: Care giving professionals.

Participants: Care giving acquaintances and members of professional associations that relate to care giving professionals.

Setting: Interviews and research should be informal and based on the participant’s professional network.

Time required: Each interview (minimum 2, maximum 5) would take 15 minutes each.

Materials: Survey questionnaire (Exhibit A).

Instructions: Included on questionnaire.

Discussion: Most self-employed individuals think that their personal and professional housing issues are unique. For this reason they are reluctant to discuss the issues they face with other peer professionals. Only when career caregivers (and other home-based business owners) share their experiences with professional associations and civic leaders will the inventory of appropriate housing options improve.

Assessment of learning objectives:

A post-activity questionnaire will be available to determine if the learning activities have be achieved (Exhibit B).

Community Action Plan

When asked by community-based caregivers, “what can I do to bring about change in the housing options available in my community?” I regret that my response only suggests work for others. I propose that caregivers (with support from their professional associations) working with local city planners, develop an action plan (see below) to promote affordable and appropriate housing designed to accommodate in-home care giving:

Potential Action Plan Elements

1. Immediate Action. Identify an existing community agency involved in this type of issue (housing/public health/city planning). Work with them to determine the requirements and select a small number of existing housing units that could serve as models for at-home care. Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each unit in a real-world environment for all involved. Identify a small number of qualified caregivers and potential clients. In the design world, conducting a “charity” with all stakeholders could identify local design alternatives. This was a step taken in San Francisco as a part of the USF/AND Enterprise Housing initiative. As for city planning steps, one might propose tax incentives for builders and rent incentives for caregivers to speed the construction of model caregiving residential units and communities. In some San Francisco Bay Area communities, firemen, policemen and teachers are given rent/housing rebates to encourage them to live in the community. Building on this precedent for care givers’ housing may be an option worth exploring through U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding or other sources .

2. Near Term Action – 1-5 Years. Analyze and negotiate language and policies for city planning. Begin zoning and remodeling units and complexes. Identify a waiting list for caregivers and clients. To reduce isolation of individual clients, complexes are encouraged that are near shopping and transportation hubs.

3. Long Term 5 – 10+ Years. Implementation and on-going refinement of policies by city planning. Set up a community agency to work with developers and state/federal agencies for financing incentives to construct units and complexes. This same agency can coordinate with caregivers and their clients.

Conclusion

This article was produced in response to a widely observed need. I hope the information will inform and inspire others to seek better and more affordable residential options for caregivers. I want to acknowledge Sally Gelardin who brought the specific needs of the caregiver audience to my attention, Luigi Lucaccini for his leadership in the generation of the Enterprise Housing publication and Grayson Gibbs for expanding the view of this article beyond California.

Definitions

Caregiver

A caregiver attends to the needs of a child or an adult." The word "care" is related to a journey. The role of caregiver therefore is to accompany that child or adult on a journey that can take all in many directions enhancing the care of the loved one and deepening the relationship among participants. (Gelardin 6)

Enterprise Housing

The use of a residence to generate income from a home-based business or through work done for another. The key to successful enterprise housing projects is appropriate construction design and civic planning (see end note to this article).

Provisioning

Making available what people need to grow and develop. One need that has become a challenge in urban America is finding appropriate and affordable housing that meets the need of caregivers and charges.

Live-Work Typology

For the caregiving audience these live-work formats (Gurstein 7) offer the possible options:

Live-work blended: Domestic space is blended with work with varying degrees of separation but no buffer. Favored by home workers wanting close proximity to children (adults).

Live-work separated: Domestic and working spaces are physically separated with different entrances, but in the same structure or on the same lot. Used by home workers who have visiting clients and need separation from children and domestic activities.

Work shared: Workspace is physically separated and shared by a group of homes. A common work center is available to residents, and possibly members of the larger community.

References

1. U.S. Census Bureau, San Francisco County, California, Selected Economic Characteristics: 2004. www.factfinder.census.gov

2. National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, Caregiving in the U.S. (2004). www.caregiving.org

3. Enterprise Housing for San Francisco, the Future of Home-based Businesses”, Daniel Adams, Allyson Coyne, Mason Kirby, Luigi Lucaccini, Fernando Marti, Rose McNulty, Eugene Muscat, Seth Wachtel, Meredith Walters: Asian Neighborhood Design and USF School of Business and Management, May 1, 2007, San Francisco http://www.andnet.org/

4. “Employers Expand Elder-Care Benefits”, M.P. McQueen, Wall Street Journal July 27, 2006

5. National Association of Caregivers Survey, http://www.caregiving.org/pubs/data.htm

6. Dr. Sally Gelardin, http://lifeworkps.com/sallyg/weblog/

7. Penny Gurstein, Wired to the World, Chained to the Home: Telework in Daly Life (Vancover, BC: UBC Press, 2001).

Eugene James Muscat

Eugene is on the faculty of the University of San Francisco School of Business and Management. He holds the rank of full professor and teaches courses in Management, Information Systems and Family Business Management. He has traveled extensively and consults with academic and business organizations throughout the Pacific Rim region. Eugene grew up in a family business. His subsequent careers included employment in management training, software development and consulting. His research interests include the use of technology in academic and business environments as well as all aspects of family business management. In direct support of emerging family businesses he has become a strong advocate for affordable housing based on a home-based business model defined as Enterprise Housing.

Professor Muscat received his MBA from the University of San Francisco and his doctorate from the University of Southern California.

End Note on Enterprise Housing Publication

Enterprise Housing for San Francisco: The Future of Home-Based Family Businesses

Live-work housing for family-operated home-based businesses is the subject of a recent publication produced by the University of San Francisco School of Business and Management’s Family Business Center in collaboration with Asian Neighborhood Design, a local San Francisco non-profit community agency. The focus is on retaining lower-income families in San Francisco though affordable live-work housing – housing that considers family needs as well as the requirements of home-based family business enterprises. USF Business School faculty members Lou Lucaccini and Eugene Muscat were co-authors along with MBA graduate student Meredith Walters, USF law student Allyson Coyne, and professor Seth Wachtel of the USF architecture program.

The book features “what if” prototype live-work designs for a sample of four San Francisco neighborhoods and business-family types. The designs were generated at an open charrette held at the AIA SF. In addition, social and economic arguments for live-work housing are reviewed, along with local data and references to earlier defining studies and work. Commentaries by John King, Dean Macris, Sherry Ahrentzen, and leading micro-business specialists are incorporated.

12/1/2007

(Eugene: I suggest you be very specific in guidance to “get things moving” and to help the Reader see what she/he is up against as well as how to “get there”. In this ever accelerating world, we all flash on bullets. Therefore, you may wish to provide a suggested plan for community agencies as well which also is essential for a successful system. Someone in this article or another needs to flesh out a plan of action that is attainable; the caregiver/reader can not stand alone. My ideas are skeletal but I encourage you to structure and expand/modify what I wrote below.)