MONROE, Mich. — The need for senior housing is up for discussion in Monroe, Mich.
According to the city of Monroe, adults over the age of 65 make up about 15% of the city's overall population. The city stated it's population of residents ages 65 to 70 has increased by 30% from 2018 to 2021.
And city officials seem committed to making sure more senior housing units are adding around the city.
“We don't want to leave Monroe. We grew up in Monroe,” said Marlene Cunningham, who currently resides in the city with her husband, Ron.
Cunningham has lived her whole life in Monroe, said she wants to have the option of living in a senior housing unit.
"My thoughts is we need senior housing for middle-class people because it's hard.
My husband and I have been living on 10 acres. we like our living, but we know another five years when we hit our 80s, we would like to have senior housing,” said Cunningham.
Matt Vanisacker, the deputy director of economic development for Monroe, said the city is taking a number of steps to address the need for senior housing.
"There's a number of different things that go into it from zoning to incentivizing certain types of development. So we're in tune with all those things and starting to put programs in place,” said Vanisacker.
Vanisacker said nearly 20 redevelopment sites will be considered for the project, including the corner of Holiday Drive and Huber Drive, which is close to the former La-Z-Boy World Headquarters.
"We want Monroe to be a community where people live for the entirety of their lives, you know, whether they come here, you know, to live initially if they're from the area or not. We want generations to be able to grow here,” said Vanisacker.
He said talks of adding more senior housing have been on-going for the last two years.
"We view residential and especially senior housing as an opportunity here in the city of Monroe. And we really want to captivate that," he continued.
The overall goal of the project is to add 2,200 more units into the city.