Get this. A Dallas article that advised homeowners to Senior-proof their house so you don’t have to move later says universal design is now Hot. The article cited an AARP study that 90% of those over 50 want to stay put in their homes, but noted that most homes in this country are ‘Peter Pan’ homes, designed for people who will never grow old — with overly narrow doorways, dangerous carpets and doorsills, terrorizing bathrooms, and inaccessible upper floors.

How times have changed. With a groundswell of baby boomers heading towards seniordom, adding universal design features now adds to the value of the home. So for those who like to plan ahead, like the Dallas couple in the article, incorporating universal design elements in a remodel makes sense to do sooner rather than later.

Universal design used to have a limited audience — but not any more. “Stepless entries, home elevators, wide passageways, adjustable cabinets, curbless showers, and other UD features represent now the fastest-growing segment of the residential remodeling industry,” say John Hockenberry at the MIT Media Lab. So no surprise that “there was a 74 percent increase over the last year in inquiries from prospective clients interested in making their homes more accessible.” The Dallas article quoted Therese Crahan, executive director of the National Association of Home Builders’ remodelers group, which has now trained more than 3000 contractors as ‘Certified Aging in Place Specialists (CAPS) . 

We want homes that use universal design principles. The principles of universal design are excellent (flexible, intuitive, accessible, error-tolerant, etc). And so CAPS-trained designers make an obstacle course house into a universal design home in which to live comfortably now and age successfully later. That’s good, it’s a glimmer of goodness for contractors in an otherwise very bleak time. And how nice that these changes are value-boosting.

But how about connecting the aging in place homeowner to the outside world? 2009 was the year in which broadband access for the 65+ demographic doubled from 19% to 30%. For baby boomers, make that from 50% to 61%. What are people doing with all this connectivity? Well, according to Forrester’s just-out survey, 70% of those 55 and older use social technologies once per month — to connect themselves to others outside their home. Older adults also look online for health-related advice — 31% of all Internet usage is spent accessing more than 62,000 health-related websites. Or maybe they wish to purchase a product, find a restaurant, get directions, get a job, or watch a video sent by a family member. High-speed internet is as essential to accessibility as the widened doorway — in fact it is the virtual widened doorway to information and the outside world.