asu in the news 02-06-08 to - ASU News - Arizona State University

the community’s single-family-home sections.
ASU in the News
The three grandchildren Julia, 7, Jillian, 5, Jeana, 2 stay with their grandparents three times a
month. Everyone knows that one of the guest rooms is the ’kids’ room.’ The three generations see
each other at least once a week, take bike rides together and help each other whenever they can. ’It’s
perfect,’ says Jen, a math teacher at DeLand High School. ’They’re not right next-door, but really
close.’ The need to accommodate elderly parents and families is growing at all income levels, says
Ahrentzen, interim director of Arizona State’s Stardust Center for Affordable Homes and the Family.
’Another reason that people are recognizing why it’s important to live closer is, let’s face it, that
nursing homes and assisted living are terribly expensive,’ she says. Not everyone can afford to move
parents and grandparents to master planned communities such as Victoria, where prices start at
$209,990. Some communities are allowing ’granny flats’ or ’mother-in-law suites’ something that
helps lower-income families, Ahrentzen says. ’The more you can use your house to maintain the
economic stability of your family, the better it is,’ she says. ’A rare day I don’t see them’
Shea Homes’ Victoria Park development here was designed to appeal to many generations. The
goal was not to attract extended families, but it has played out that way.
Cathy Updike, 55, and her husband, Nathan, 59, already lived here. Her parents, Glenn and Inez
Bish, in their 70s, were about two hours away in Lakeland. They saw each other only every couple of
months. ’As the oldest of four, I figured I’d be the one taking care of them,’ Updike says. So she
decided to move her parents closer so close that they’re in the active-adult section of the same
development. They now see each other once a week.
For Joe Hilbe, 63, and his wife, Cheryl, 57, downsizing and moving to an adult community made
sense after their two sons finished high school. They wanted them close and wanted to help them
build a financial future.
The Hilbes moved into the new Sun City neighborhood near Phoenix and bought a house in the
adjoining Anthem development for their sons, ages 22 and 20. ’It’s a rare day that I don’t see one of
them,’ says Hilbe, an adjunct professor of statistics at Arizona State University. ’When I was
younger, I would’ve thought that it was kind of a dumb idea, but as you get older & ’
78