'Grandfamily' housing accommodates wide age variance

By Adrienne Schwisow
Associated Press

DETROIT — These days, when as many tricycles as walkers litter the hallways of many senior living centers, cities are trying to figure out the best way to accommodate — under one roof — grandparents and the children they are raising.

The results are new homes with services and features for all members of the so-called "grandfamilies." There's daycare for the children and windows that look out over the playground so the grandparents can watch from inside.

Developers in Detroit are planning two projects of specially designed low-income housing. Similar projects already exist in Boston and Buffalo, N.Y., while Chicago and New York City have broken ground on their own developments.

"The dynamics of families are changing, and we need to figure out new ways to address it so these children can grow up whole," said Sharon West, director of the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority and a 56-year-old grandmother who is raising her 6-year-old granddaughter.

Other cities with plans for grandfamily housing include Baltimore; New Haven, Conn.; Cleveland; Detroit; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Oklahoma City; Trenton, N.J.; Nashville, Tenn.; Sacramento, Calif.; and Tacoma, Wash.

Subsidized townhouses planned for Detroit will create a community cluster of practical, attractive and safe homes for grandparents 55 and older thrust back into parenthood.

They will be in working-class neighborhoods, bounded by fences and hedges, and will include a library, computer room, classroom and recreation center, among other built-in conveniences.

"The apartments in Boston, for example, are built for both age groups, so that you have grab bars in the bathrooms, and covers for the electrical outlets," said Donna Butts, executive director of Generations United, a nationwide advocacy group for grandparents.

The housing options are filling a much-needed void. U.S. Census figures show that roughly 2.4 million grandparents nationwide in 2002 were raising their grandchildren, up from about a million in 1990.

Miguel Caballero, who helps Buffalo residents in intergenerational and mixed-family housing, said developments can help support families that otherwise might not be able to make it.