Independent for Life: Homes and Neighborhoods for an Aging America

Henry Cisneros, Jane Hickie and Margaret Dyer-Chamberlain, University of Texas Press, 2012

 
Senior Research Scholars at the Center – Jane Hickie and Margaret Dyer-Chamberlain, in a collaboration with former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros, have co-edited a book, published by University of Texas Press, about aging in place.

Independent for Life covers a wide range of smart solutions, including remodeling current housing and building new homes for accessibility and safety, retrofitting existing neighborhoods to connect needed services and amenities, and planning new communities that work well for people of all ages. Case studies show how the proposals can be implemented. The authors offer action plans for working with policy makers at local, state, and national levels to address the larger issues of aging in place, including family financial security, real estate markets, and the limitations of public support. Lists of essential resources, including a detailed “to do” list of aging in place priorities and an individual home assessment, complete the volume.

Henry Cisneros, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and four-term mayor of San Antonio, is Executive Chairman of CityView, a company that specializes in urban real estate, in-city housing, and metropolitan infrastructure. Cisneros is the author of several books, including Interwoven Destinies: Cities and Nation and Our Communities, Our Homes: Pathways to Housing and Homeownership in America’s Cities and States.

Margaret Dyer-Chamberlain is Senior Research Scholar and Managing Director at the Stanford Center on Longevity.

Jane Hickie is Senior Research Scholar and Director of the Politics, Scholars, and the Public Program at the Stanford Center on Longevity.


Essential to the life of this project is the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on an aging Society, which is a project of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Their generous funding was joined by important support from the Home Depot Foundation, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Foundation. This book is intended to credit the continuing work of these generous institutions in improving the lives of older Americans.