For people who are able to live independently and want to age in place, naturally occurring retirement communities (or NORCs) offer attractive alternatives to assisted living. NORCs are intentional communities, sometimes called villages, in which neighbors come together to share resources and help one another with basic tasks. Building from the early example of Boston’s Beacon Hill Village, members pay dues, typically $350 to $1,000 annually, for help with an array of household chores like grocery shopping, shoveling snow, transportation, and fixing things. Some services are bartered or banked — one member helps prepare a holiday meal for out-of-town guests, while another helps fill out Medicare
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forms, and another does minor plumbing. Well over one hundred such communities exist and more are forming. NORCs are not housing projects or government programs. However, several local and state governments, most notably New York State, have supported early development of similar self- help communities. Congress included provisions to encourage the formation of NORCs in the 2006 Older Americans Act.