A naturally occurring retirement community (NORC; ) is a community that has a large proportion of residents over 60 but was not specifically planned or designed to meet the needs of seniors living independently in their homes. NORCs may develop in three ways: *

Aging in place The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines aging in place as "the ability to live in one's own home and community safely, independently, and comfortably, regardless of age, income, or ability level". Environmental gerontology R ...

: numerous persons moved into a community when they were younger *

Emigration Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

: older people remain in a community as younger residents move out *

Immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

: numerous older people move into a community

History

The

demographic Demography () is the statistics, statistical study of human populations: their size, composition (e.g., ethnic group, age), and how they change through the interplay of fertility (births), mortality (deaths), and migration. Demographic analy ...

term "NORC" was first coined in the 1980s by Michael Hunt, a professor of

urban planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

. He defined NORCs as

neighborhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...

s and

housing development A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex, housing development, subdivision or community) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Popular throug ...

s, originally built for young families, in which 50 percent of the residents are 50 years or older and have aged in place. Over time, this threshold definition has been adjusted by communities and

policymaker Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an or ...

s to reflect local residential patterns. For example, in the US, the

federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

, through Title IV of the

Older Americans Act The Older Americans Act of 1965 (, ) was the first federal level initiative aimed at providing comprehensive services for older adults. It created the National Aging Network comprising the Administration on Aging on the federal level, State Unit ...

, recognizes NORCs as communities in which at least 40 percent of the heads of households are older individuals. The State of

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

defines a NORC as a community in which 50 percent of housing units have heads of household who are 60 years old or older, and/or at least 2,500 heads of household who are 60 years old or older. By contrast,

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

requires that a community must have at least 45 percent of

housing unit A housing unit, or dwelling unit (at later mention, often abbreviated to ''unit''), is a structure or the part of a structure or the space that is used as a home, residence, or sleeping place by one person or more people who maintain a common hous ...

s with heads of household 60 years old or older with a minimum count of at least 250 seniors, or that there be at least 500 older adults who are 60 years old or older (regardless of the percentage of housing units).

Types

NORCs are geographically defined either by the dimensions of an

apartment building An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement ( Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) ...

complex or by the boundaries of a neighborhood. While NORCs were first identified in urban settings, they can actually be found in communities large and small, and in all geographic settings. A NORC can generally be categorized as one of three types: *''Classic NORC''. Also called a "housing-based," "vertical," or "closed" NORC, a classic NORC may be a single age-integrated apartment building, a housing complex with multiple buildings under common management, or an area where a number of apartment buildings are clustered together. *''Neighborhood-based NORC''. Also known as a "horizontal" or "open" NORC, a neighborhood-based NORC is typically an age-integrated neighborhood of one- and two-family homes. *''Rural NORC''. Also known as a Naturally Occurring Retirement Region (NORR), a rural NORC covers a large geographic area in which the

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

is low, typically comprising one- and two family homes.

Programs

In response to the NORC demographic phenomenon, many communities have developed NORC programs, also known as NORC supportive service programs (NORC-SSPs or just SSPs), to serve their senior residents by providing

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

and

health care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

services tailored to their specific needs. The community-based programs are often partnerships of housing/neighborhood organizations, residents, health and

social service Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

providers, and other community stakeholders. While each NORC program may provide a unique scope of services, all NORC programs share one goal—maximizing the health and well-being of resident seniors so they can maintain their independence and comfortably remain in their homes as they age in place. NORC programs are generally supported by some mix of public and private

funding Funding is the act of providing resources to finance a need, program, or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization or company. Generally, this word is used when a firm use ...

, combining revenue and in-kind supports from

government agencies A government agency or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government (bureaucracy) that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, ...

, housing partners, philanthropies,

corporation A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...

s, community stakeholders, and residents. NORC program services may include case management,

health care management Health administration, healthcare administration, healthcare management, health services management or hospital management is the field relating to leadership, management, and administration of public health systems, health care systems, ho ...

, recreational and

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

al activities,

transportation Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

, and

volunteer Volunteering is an elective and freely chosen act of an individual or group giving their time and labor, often for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency ...

opportunities for senior residents. A hallmark of the NORC program model is its flexibility in identifying and providing the kinds of services needed by the community and the seniors who live there. The first NORC program was established in 1986 at Penn South Houses, a ten-building 2,800-unit moderate-income

housing cooperative A housing cooperative, or housing co-op, is a legal entity which owns real estate consisting of one or more residential buildings. The entity is usually a cooperative or a corporation and constitutes a form of housing tenure. Typically hou ...

located in

, with support from the UJA/Federation of New York. Since then, the NORC program model has been broadly replicated at the local, state, and national levels and can be found in more than 25 states across the country.

Sources

*Anetzberger, G. J. (2010). "Community options of greater Cleveland, Ohio: Preliminary evaluation of a naturally occurring retirement community program." ''Clinical Gerontologist'', 33(1), 1–15. *Bedney, B. J., Goldberg, R. B., & Josephson, K. (2010). "Aging in place in naturally occurring retirement communities: Transforming aging through supportive service programs." ''Journal of Housing for the Elderly'', 24(3–4), 304–321. *Bennett, P. (2010). "Exploration and assessment of the NORC transformation process." ''Journal of Housing for the Elderly'', 24(3–4), 373–391. *Bronstein, L., Gellis, Z. D., & Kenaley, B. L. (2011). "A neighborhood naturally occurring retirement community: Views from providers and residents." ''The Journal of Applied Gerontology'', 30(1), 104–112. *Bronstein, L., & Kenaley, B. (2010). "Learning from vertical NORCs: Challenges and recommendations for horizontal NORCs." ''Journal of Housing for the Elderly'', 24(3–4), 237–248. *Cohen-Mansfield, J., Dakheel-Ali, M., & Jensen, B. (2013). "Predicting service use and intent to use services of older adult residents of two naturally occurring retirement communities." ''Social Work Research'', 37(4), 313–326. *Elbert, K., & Neufeld, P. (2010). "Indicators of a successful naturally occurring retirement community: A case study." ''Journal of Housing for the Elderly'', 24(3), 322–334. *Enguidanos, S., Pynoos, J., Denton, A., Alexman, S., & Diepenbrock, L. (2010). "Comparison of barriers and facilitators in developing NORC programs: A tale of two communities." ''Journal of Housing for the Elderly'', 24(3–4), 291–303. *Grant-Savela, S. (2010). "Active living among older residents of a rural naturally occurring retirement community." ''The Journal of Applied Gerontology'', 29(5), 531–553. *Greenfield, E. A. (2014). "Community aging initiatives and social capital: Developing theories of change in the context of NORC supportive service programs." ''Journal of Applied Gerontology'', 33(2), 227–250. *Ivery, J., Akstein-Kahan, D., & Murphy, K. (2010). "Norc supportive services model implementation and community capacity." ''Journal of Gerontological Social Work'', 53(1), 21–42. *Ivery, Jan M., and Deborah Akstein-Kahan. "The Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC) Initiative in Georgia: Developing and Managing Collaborative Partnerships to Support Older Adults." ''Administration in Social Work'' 34.4 (2010): 329–343. *Kloseck, Marita, Richard G. Crilly, and Gloria M. Gutman. "Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities: Untapped Resources to Enable Optimal Aging at Home." ''Journal of Housing for the Elderly'' 24.3–4 (2010): 392–412. *Lun, M. (2010). "The correlate of religion involvement and formal service use among community-dwelling elders: An explorative case of naturally occurring retirement community." ''Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work'', 29(3), 207–217. *MacLaren, C., Dsw, G. L., & Schwartz, H. (2007). "History, accomplishments, issues and prospects of supportive service programs in naturally occurring retirement communities in New York State: Lessons learned." ''Journal of Gerontological Social Work'', 49(1–2), 127–144. *Masotti, P. J., Fick, R., & O'Connor, K. (2010). "Healthy naturally occurring retirement communities: The need for increased collaboration between local public health agencies and municipal government." ''Journal of Housing for the Elderly'', 24(3–4), 249–266. *Pine, V., & Pine, P. (2002). "Naturally occurring retirement community-supportive service program: An example of devolution." '' Journal of Aging & Social Policy'', 14(3), 181–193. *Tremoulet, A. (2010). "Manufactured home parks: NORCs awaiting discovery." ''Journal of Housing for the Elderly'', 24(3–4), 335–355. *Vladeck, F., Segel, R., Oberlink, M., Gursen, M. D., & Rudin, D. (2010). "Health indicators: A proactive and systematic approach to healthy aging." ''Cityscape'', 12(2), 67–84. *Vladeck, F. (2012). "The Next Generation of Senior Services: Responding to Health Reform." ''Care Management Journals'', 13(1), 37–41.

Notes

References

External links

* {{cite web, url=http://www.aginghealthindicators.org/, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110623043824/http://www.aginghealthindicators.org/, url-status=dead, archive-date=2011-06-23, title=Health Indicators – Advancing Healthy Aging in your Community, website=Aging Health Indicators Housing for the elderly Retirement