Independent Living is also known as Active Adult Communities, Senior Apartments, and Retirement Communities.  In our database you'll find them divided this way: Independent Living-owned and Independent Living-rented. Although most Independent Living communities such as senior cooperatives and senior condominiums do not offer nursing services, they do have many other amenities for the active adult. Most communities offer recreational activities, field trips, and meal plans. Most of these communities are designated as "senior housing" because there's a minimum age for entry. The minimum age ranges from 50, to 55, to 62.  It's not uncommon for residents of Independent Living communities to bring in home health services and housekeeping services to help them with some daily chores.  

Older adults move into Independent Living for lots of different reasons. It may be so they can travel more, for more opportunities to socialize, so they don't have to worry about house maintenance, or just to be closer to children and grandchildren.

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Senior housing is becoming as varied as the clients it serves. As seniors become more educated about housing and demand more choices, the senior housing industry is responding.

We used to think there was a clear-cut line between what we call "independent living" and "assisted living." You either lived in a community where services were offered, or you didn't. That simply isn't the case anymore. Many "independent living" buildings offer transportation, house keeping services, and even meals.

Minnesota legislation that went into effect on January 1, 2007 established a base-line of services that must be offered in order to use the term "assisted living."  They include:

• Two meals each day
  
• Housekeeping and laundry service available at least once a week
  
• Help in arranging transportation to medical and similar appointments
  
• Help in arranging social services and in accessing other community resources
  
• Opportunities for socializing
  
• Either assistance with self-administration of medications or administration of medications
  
• Assistance with at least three of the following activities of daily living: bathing, dressing, grooming, eating, transferring, continence care and toileting
  
• A system to check on each assisted living client at least daily
  
• A system that enables assisted living clients to request and receive assistance with health or safety needs round-the-clock

• An awake person, available round-the-clock to respond to assisted living clients' requests for assistance.In small settings with 12 or fewer clients, the person responsible for responding to requests is allowed to sleep if adequate safeguards are in place.
  
• Staff in an assisted living building must be able to reach a registered nurse 24 hours per day, seven days a week, regarding any health issue that may arise for a resident.

Assisted living is a great choice for someone who needs some assistance with daily activities, but does not require 24 hour a day nursing services. As a consumer, you don't need to use all of these services. This also means you need to have a good understanding of what is included in the base rent. Some services are "bundled" together and sold as a package, and sometimes you are able to purchase a single service. These hybrid types of senior communities are answering consumer demand, but as a result it has gotten very difficult to  compare one community against the next effectively because of the details of the services, and the way in which they are offered.