Joslyn House
Turns to Community
By Sara Nelson

Arlene and Allen Wright have ably served Joslyn House as house mangers for more than 15 years. (Herald. /Bob Eddy) 1Sandy 1

One question facing Vermont’s aging population is how to find appropriate housing when living at home becomes too difficult.

In Randolph, the Joslyn House is one of a diminishing number of shared senior housing facilities. It’s not a nursing home, but rather a home for independent seniors who could use a little extra help.

The home is owned by the nonprofit Randolph Area Communtiy Development Corp. (RACDC). Because it doesn’t offer on-site nursing care, and because it’s frugally-managed, the Joslyn House has been able to charge a third to a fifth of what a typical licensed nursing home might cost.

However, RACDC director Julie Iffland said this week, it’s a type of housing that’s "more and more needed, and harder and harder to make work."

With rising property taxes and food and heating costs, it’s becoming difficult to keep the Joslyn House affordable for its residents, she warned.

This year, the Joslyn House raised rents by 16%, up to $970 per month for room and board.

"That number is still modest by a lot of standards, but a lot of people are on really fixed incomes. There’s only so much you can ask before making it impossible for people," Iffland said.

Despite the rent hike, Iffland said the Joslyn House budget is projected to fall at least $10,000 short of breaking even this year.

To close that gap, this year the organization has begun its first fundraising effort since its inception 15 years ago. Iffland said the Joslyn House Affordability Fund will hopefully supplement the rent residents pay with donations from the Randolph community.

"People are under the impression that the Joslyn House is subsidized by the government in some way, but in fact there’s virtually no support," she said.

Iffland said that although it’s increasingly recognized that "age-in-place" facilities like Joslyn House are a good option for seniors who don’t need round-the-clock medical care, "the trouble is that policy and funding aren’t aligned. If you go into a nursing home, you will get assistance. At a place like the Joslyn House, there are some subsidies, but they are very hard to get."

The affordability fund will bring the home’s practices more in line with those of some similar facilities, like the Park House in Rochester, which has relied on community support to help it through periods of vacancy and rising costs, Iffland said.

"We’re hoping that people will recognize that we provide an important service to the community."

To date, the home has served 117 residents, most from the Randolph area. It has 20 rooms and 24 people on the waiting list. The current residents range in age from 55 to 98; the average age is 86.

The house is cozily decorated with plenty of places for sitting, and sewing machines, shelves of books, painting easels, and a tool bench. Occasionally, movies are shown, but the big social events are meals, served communally at large tables downstairs.

Unlike in nursing homes, Joslyn House residents are free to come and go as they please, and many take advantage of the Stagecoach, which stops at the house about six times a day, according to Arlene Wright.

Wright and her husband, Allen, are the residential managers at the house, essentially volunteers who live on site, supervising the seven-person staff, working with volunteers, interviewing potential residents, overseeing what things need doing, and making sure the residents are comfortable and happy.

It is a task made more challenging because the house, formerly an Eastern Star Home, is over a century old, and hasn’t had any major upgrades for decades. Over the next year or so, some small upgrades are scheduled, including replacing some of the heavy, drafty windows that Al and Arlene spend a lot of time wrestling with in the summer.

The Joslyn House and RACDC are also discussing longer-term renovations proposed as part of a recently-completed feasibility study.

"It’s time to start thinking about what the next generation of residents are going to need and expect," Iffland said. She said that amenities like private bathrooms might be in the cards, although major plans won’t be made for at least a year.

For now, finding a way to stay affordable is what’s on the agenda.