Does West Seattle need a ‘Village’? If you think so – here’s how to help plan it!

| How to help | West Seattle news

Depending on where you are in life, you might imagine the future as exciting, or worrisome, or a combination of both. If you tend toward the latter, you might take some reassurance in learning that plans are in the works for a “Village” in West Seattle. Even better, it’s so early in the planning stage that you can jump in and help make it something that you’ll look forward to being part of when the time comes. From the group working on it so far:

What is a Village?

A village is not a place – it is a plan for aging successfully in your own home. It is a membership-based organization with paid staff who act as a personal, central resource to coordinate access to services for you. These services can help you stay in your home as you age and could be provided by trained neighborhood volunteers, or you might be referred to a screened vendor/service provider for more complex needs and services. It could also include social and activity groups.

Services might include yard work, rides to the doctor or a friend’s house, housecleaning, companionship, pet care, painters, plumbers, grocery shopping, and educational and social events at nearby locations.

How did Villages get started?

Originally started in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston in 2002, the Village concept arose out of community members’ desire to reside in their own homes while being able to access services that addressed their changing lifestyles as they aged. They wanted to take responsibility for their aging by creating a safety net of services to support them in staying safely in their own homes. At its core, the Village Movement is customer- and community-driven. Now there are more than 200 in the US including three Villages in Seattle: PNA Village (Phinney-Greenwood neighborhood), NEST (NE Seattle), and Wider Horizons (serving Central Seattle). Here is a short video featuring a member from the PNA Village in Seattle.

Is there a typical Village?

Not really. “If you’ve seen one Village; you’ve seen one Village.” Each one is planned specifically to meet the needs of the local community. By design, all Villages focus on engagement to remain healthy, not on frailty and disability. Interdependence is the goal, not isolated independence. And for those who are already members of the West Seattle Timebank, you can see that a Village is a great partner for Timebanking in a close-knit community like West Seattle.

What are the costs?

Each Village determines its own annual fees. Typically a membership starts at $200 annually. Volunteer services are free to members; screened professionals and agencies charge fees but may give discounts to Village members.

Who is involved in West Seattle so far?

It’s at the embryonic stage, so….YOU could help plan it! Folks like Lyle Evans and Holly McNeill at the Senior Center of West Seattle, Tamsen Spengler with the West Seattle Timebank, Arlene Carter with Providence Mount St. Vincent are part of the planning group. Many others are getting involved and there is a place for you on the organizing team!

Do you think West Seattle could benefit by forming a Village?

Please consider getting involved by helping with the planning, volunteering once it has launched, and/or becoming a member so you can enjoy all the benefits. To get on our e-mail list and to get more information, please contact Dori Gillam at Senior Services, dorig@seniorservices.org, 206-268-6737.

Fiwa Jcbbb August 18, 2015 (2:24 pm)

Really a wonderful idea, but what would be even more helpful towards keeping folks in their homes is an end to Washington’s Most Regressive Taxation System in the Nation status, specifically property taxes that increase by leaps and bounds yearly (the Mayor will ask for even more to pay for transportation in the form of bike lanes and Woonerfs this fall) when our incomes mostly do not keep up. Especially retired folks on a fixed income. For a supposedly liberal state, we have quietly yet wholly embraced the decidedly conservative philosophy that rich people, no matter how they got it, are wonderful job creators that deserve every penny they get their hands on and the burden of taxation needs to be placed on the “losers”.

Jennie August 18, 2015 (3:32 pm)

I used to get paid $15 an hour back in the year 2001 (!) in Australia to clean elderly peoples’ homes, do errands for people who were blind, provide respite for parents of children with long-term illness, and all sorts of other helpful things like that for the community. The charge to them was about $2 an hour. The difference was subsidized by the government; and we were all taxed about 30% of our income. I was able to live in central Melbourne on a livable wage, a very livable wage. When will the US catch up?

WSEA August 18, 2015 (3:43 pm)

@jcbbb – I agree with your comment about our state being regressive with the tax system but disagree with your transit comment. The bike/ped (which i assume includes woonerfs) receives <1% of the operational budget and only 3% of capital budget. If you have issue with the transit system for the elderly, I would look at other areas that consume more of the transit budget.

Here is a great link that shows the states revenue and expenses:
http://leg.wa.gov/LIC/Documents/EducationAndInformation/Citizens_Guide_to_Budget.pdf

Mark schletty August 19, 2015 (9:06 am)

Looks like a great idea to me. But, as already mentioned, a property tax freeze for seniors would be even more helpful. Chicago freezes property taxes at whatever they are when senior status is reached and they dont go up until the owner no longer lives on site. Freezing taxes at age 65 would stop the city from taxing seniors out of their homes, as they are currently doing at an increasingly high rate.

LarryB August 19, 2015 (12:01 pm)

Needs a better name. When I hear “village”, my first thought is that there are already three Urban Villages in West Seattle.

I’m also confused about the mechanics of this. Is this a levy? Or some sort of mandatory fee? If so, who collects it?

I don’t think it’s a bad idea, but I think there are a lot of hidden costs when seniors can’t afford to maintain their homes, even if they can pay the taxes. Who helps with this? When is relocation the answer?

If so, how can that be facilitated for seniors who can’t even pay their very modest taxes. (Seriously, property taxes in Seattle are very, very low. Rarely more than $5,000.)

WSB August 19, 2015 (12:35 pm)

LarryB, I’m sorry that the comment thread got way off track from the start … I needed to step in. The topic of taxes is valid but not at all related to this particular proposal; it would be a good topic in the WSB Forums, for example, and this is why we have a rule about not sidetracking comment threads … to try to avoid this kind of confusion. Anyway: This is NOT a government proposal. It’s an idea that would be voluntary and cooperative and nonprofit – the Timebank, which is a nonprofit cooperative type of group, was mentioned, for example.
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Put maybe even more clearly … many of us are part of what was a huge generation of babies (as in Boomers) and will be part of a huge generation of seniors. Moving into retirement centers is great for some. But if you’d like to stay in your own home as long as possible, and start to need some help, how do you get that help and support? If you have a lot of younger relatives and friends, great. If you can pay for some kind of fulltime assistance, great. If you don’t and can’t … that’s what this idea is all about, as I understand it. – Tracy
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LarryB August 19, 2015 (12:42 pm)

Thanks for the clarification. As a Gen-Xer, it’s clear to me that Boomers will require help at an unprecedented scale.

This could be part of the solution, even if it’s only a start. Doing something is just human decency.

RayK August 29, 2015 (9:29 am)

This idea is floated by Senior Services, a non-profit organization that provides programming and management services to Seattle senior centers and operates Hyde Shuttle, a transportation service for seniors.

From the excerpts in the WSB story I don’t understand the deliverables. Outcomes are outlined without linking to the methods (I did notice the $200 fee).

Sorry, comment time is over.