Group aims to expand senior housing

Older Women's League discusses helping elderly with low incomes

Affordable housing is a universal concern, but a Lawrence group has begun to concentrate on combining affordable housing and services for older people with low incomes.

The Older Women’s League of Douglas County met Wednesday to discuss its housing subcommittee’s report on the topic. The goal is to expand subsidized senior housing in the county to affordable housing with services by 2010.

“What we’ve realized is that you can’t wait around for the solution to be created by the government or someone to come and save you or take care of all that for you,” said Gayle Sigurdson, chairwoman of the committee and the elderly services coordinator for the Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority. “Seniors need to become informed themselves and take responsibility for finding their own solutions.”

The committee of about eight women focused on reframing the way services are provided to ensure that older people with low incomes have resources and choices available to them. Streamlining health, community and home care services was pertinent to the housing committee’s preliminary report. The report will be presented to service providers who may be interested in collaborating with other organizations to help people in various living situations such as a group home or a specific neighborhood. Creativity and responsibility are key, Sigurdson said.

The services could help people who choose to live independently, too, something important to Blanch Rombach, 84, of Lawrence.

She was one of about 30 people who met at the Lawrence Public Library to hear the report.

“Each person has their own needs; we all know our own strengths and weaknesses,” Rombach said.

She said when people can identify and voice their specific needs, it helps those who are helping them.