The Tech Effect on Senior Housing

The author of Rich Dad Poor Dad says that your home is a liability. I actually believe that your home mortgage is a liability, not the house itself. So it’s not the house itself that poses the biggest threat to senior housing, but rather the new business and tech advancements that will enable aging adults to stay at home longer. Here are a few of the obvious, and not-so-obvious advancements that I think will have the biggest impact on the future cost and demand for senior housing.

By far one of the greatest enablers of staying in your home will be improvements in transportation. Easy transportation is rapidly improving the quality of life for every American, let alone seniors and disabled people, as rideshare companies continue to expand their market share.

Moving one step into the future, what happens to the price of Uber and Lyft as companies start vying for the passenger’s money and attention? Services and pricing move closer to free. Think “Stop by Starbucks on your way to work and we’ll pay for $5 of your ride.”

Meals are another premium service for which residents pay a heavy cost. Well, those same rideshare companies have already started offering meal delivery. And once again, they offer convenience and time savings for the end user. What about grocery delivery services? How will senior communities adapt?

We already have wearable technologies that can test your heart rate and take vital signs throughout your day. They can even notify family members in the event of an emergency. I can imagine a world in which every aging adult has given their care providers and family members access to their real-time health information. This could change the average age at which people start thinking about senior housing, maybe not drastically, but realistically. We’re talking about free services that are usually performed by high-paid nursing staff.

I share office space with an entrepreneur that is putting $12,000 smart toilets in remote villages around the world. This may sound extreme, but these toilets can test for diseases, tell you your nutritional deficiencies, recognize patterns and changes in your body, and can even tell if you’ve taken your medication or not. I know it seems crazy, but again, this could drastically alter the senior housing market.

All of this and more is coming. With that being said, I’m not pessimistic about the future of the industry. To the contrary, I think it’s exciting that we are poised for a major breakthrough in services demanded by, and offered to, seniors. Most importantly, I think the companies that learn how to leverage these changes in technology and living, and most importantly can imagine how they can be implemented within their communities, will be the ones that win big!

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