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Community... Unity Part 2: Finding a Home For Our Own
By Mitch Traphagen
Aug 14, 2008 - 11:17:28 PM

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The city of Victor, like many area communities, has made space for seniors. Today’s seniors, however, are far more active than those 30 or more years ago. Condominiums with attached garages are more in line with an elderly population that is still mobile. Mitch Traphagen Photo

VICTOR - Despite the passing of decades, the sting of losing a care center for the elderly is still felt by some in Victor.  Now, more than 30 years later, it may have been a blessing in disguise.  With housing options for seniors limited to an apartment complex, some residents in the community are beginning to visualize a high quality, modern-day solution to keeping seniors within the community, all the while freeing up housing for the next generation of residents.

And for Victor, housing is a sensitive issue - in contrast to a healthy local economy, there is little to be had.  Within the community, 47 homes are occupied by elderly single people.  That number amounts to roughly ten percent of the total households in town.  Recently, the issue has come up over whether the community could make arrangements to have a condominium-style housing complex built for seniors who wish to remain independent yet don’t want to handle the responsibility of maintaining a large home.

 “All of the board members of the VCDA (Victor Community Development Association) are very interested in housing, per se,” said VCDA president Dr. Leonard Seda.  “What has happened is that we were stimulated by several people in the community who said they are very cognizant and worried that they won’t be able to stay in their house, won’t be able to take care of their house.  They say, I like my church, I want to be in Victor, I want to drive but I may not be able to take care of my large house.”

Many of the older homes in the community lack attached garages, most have lawns that require maintenance, to say nothing of roof and other structural maintenance.  At some point in most everyone’s life, the focus shifts from maintaining a home to simply enjoying life.  That, of course, is the dream for most people in terms of retirement.  By and large, having to replace a roof doesn’t fit well with that dream.

“Senior citizens today still drive cars - as long as they can function and pass their eye tests, they can drive,” Seda continued.  “That doesn’t fit most senior apartments that were built decades ago.  Also, they have a lot of personal belongings - things that mean a lot to them - so they don’t want a one room apartment but yet they don’t need a whole house.  So it is kind of an in-between step they are looking into.  One of the styles that has been brought up would be an L-shaped building with a central courtyard and each person would have an outside entrance and also a hallway entrance along with an attached garage.”

For the VCDA, a condominium complex for seniors would have a two-fold benefit.  First and foremost, it could create a situation in which seniors would feel as though they could remain in the community without having to maintain a single family home.  Second, it would also instantly free up housing for the next generation of residents.

“This could create a circumstance that the elderly could have a living situation among their peers,” Seda said.  Also, if you have this type of development, you could also bring in someone to assist, such as a nurse, and everyone would be right there in the same complex.  It just has a lot of merit.  For the VCDA, the thought process is the seniors could sell their homes to young couple, working couples, if they could move into a situation in which they could own their own condo.”

At first glance it would seem that Victor is built out - the town is completely surrounded by working farm fields and few large scale development opportunities appear to remain.
“Our biggest challenge would be location,” Seda said.  “Victor is very landlocked.  But we are not completely landlocked given the right situation.”

And the right situation may be happening right now.  Indeed, if there is demand for senior condominiums, the opportunity may be created.  That, coupled with the possibility of a large number of jobs being created at nearby River Bend Industries, could make for a golden opportunity for a developer.

“The jobs situation with River Bend Industries is marvelous,” Seda continued.  “The Interstate 80 corridor growth is another big plus.  There is a $6 million expansion to our school and that is yet another.  Our churches continue to draw people every Sunday.  We have 75 businesses in town, yet another big plus.  We have medical, Dr. Cranston, Village Pharmacy is expanding and local contractor employment of young people is amazing.”

In a word, Victor is thriving.  While across the nation many small towns struggle to survive, Victor is a community with access to relatively high paying jobs requiring a variety of skills - in everything from construction to manufacturing to information technology.

The VCDA is not a developer - they won’t be out swinging hammers or signing contracts.  But they are involved every step of the way.

“We are trying to be the catalyst for groups to look into this and to clear the way to make things happen,” Seda said.  “I can’t tell you who all will be involved but there are some key people at work on it.  The VCDA is a stimulating body - it is what we have done with the Victor Health Center, with helping to make the sale happen between Victor Plastics and River Bend, all the way back to our first one with Victor Manufacturing in 1979.”

Today, Victor is bucking the trend of many small towns.  It is a community in which housing is inexpensive, crime is almost non-existent and a variety of good paying jobs are nearby - within just a few miles.  If ever a community was set up for an age of high fuel prices, Victor is it.

“The services, opportunities and progress in the Victor area has a very bright future - and it can happen simply as a matter of thinking that way,” Seda said.

Which is, of course, why most seniors prefer to remain in town.  Of the many perks Dr. Seda listed about the community, there is at least one more:  Victor is also compassionate enough to work to keep seniors in town.  After all, they are not just “the elderly” - in this small community they are neighbors, parents and friends.

“I think the town got fired up when we lost the care center in the 70s - we wanted to make certain that we wouldn’t lose anything again,” Seda said.

And that, apparently, includes the seniors living here.

Coming up in part three of Community… Unity:  Find out from seniors what it is like to grow old alone.

© Copyright 2008 by The East Iowa Herald