BCAN to Host Forum on Brookline Baby Boomer Housing on April 7

The Brookline Community Aging Network (BCAN) is hosting a forum on senior housing development options in Brookline on Sunday, April 7 from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Whitney Hall of the Holiday Inn at 1200 Beacon Street.

As part of the Brookline’s Age-Friendly Cities initiative, the Board of Selectmen, Housing Advisory Board, Economic Development Advisory Board, Council on Aging, Health Department and BCAN will convene a panel of experts who are familiar with Brookline to discuss a variety of models of senior housing.

“Aging baby boomers are the most rapidly growing segment of Brookline’s population,” BCAN’s Media Relations Elanor Parker. “The number of Brookline Residents between the age of 55 and 65 has grown by 40 percent between 2000 and 2010.”

The panel will consist of Dorothy Kelly Gay, Director of Government Relations, Hebrew SeniorLife; Amy Schectman, President and CEO, Jewish Community Housing; James Seagle, Jr., President, Rogerson Communities; and Ruthann Dobek, Director, Brookline Council on Aging.

According to Parker, the panelists will consider models of housing and services for older people whose needs and financial resources differ widely, in hopes of stimulating discussion, interest and, ultimately, action. This forum will be of interest both to policy makers and to those who are considering their own futures in Brookline.

"This isn't just for seniors living in town now," Parker said. "There are plenty of empty nest-ers and seniors from near by towns that move here because of all we have to offer."

Brookline is a member of the World Health Organization global network of Age-Friendly Cities, which was established to foster the exchange of experience and mutual learning among communities worldwide. 

“A major emphasis in our Age-Friendly Cities agenda will be on keeping residents better informed about what the Town offers for seniors,” BCAN co-founder Frank Caro told the Board of Selectmen in the beginning of March.

On Tuesday, March 5, the Board of Selectmen unanimously voted to support the efforts of BCAN and this forum in order to see that residents of Brookline are taken care of and that elderly people from the surrounding areas have access to Brookline’s convenience and public services.