Schools Shutter Across US Opening Door for Seniors to Move in:
New data shows that many schools recently closed due to a shrinking youth population, prompting a rapidly growing senior citizen cohort to move into some of the vacated buildings.
More than 1,000 schools closed during the 2025–26 school year, compared with 755 just four years earlier — a 35 percent increase in school closures across the U.S., the Washington Post reported citing data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Other reports show that at the same time, vacant schools throughout the country are turning into affordable senior living apartments.
“We call it the big shrink,” Marguerite Roza who tracks school funding as director of Georgetown University’s Edunomics lab, said according to the Post. “Enrollment at public schools is declining, partly because there are fewer kids in the U.S.”
Many schools are seeing a decline in enrollment due to declining birth rates and population shifts as families move to the suburbs for cheaper living, the outlet reported. Students are also being moved to private and charter schools as parents take advantage of scholarship programs. Future closures are planned in cities like Houston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Broward County, Florida.
Meanwhile, a RentCafe report found that nearly 2,000 apartments were created from former public school buildings, according to Moneywise. There were 9,320 units of school-to-apartment conversions in the development pipeline at the start of 2026. --->READ MORE HERE
A vacant 126-year-old school in Strawberry Mansion will become senior housing:
The $34 million project will repurpose the historic property through a partnership with the Philadelphia Housing Authority.
More than two decades after Rudolph Walton Elementary closed, a nonprofit developer is preparing to breathe new life into the historic North Philadelphia school.
The blighted stone building on North 22nd Street near Huntingdon in Strawberry Mansion will be converted into a 50-unit apartment building for older adults with low incomes.
The homes will all be subsidized through a partnership with the Philadelphia Housing Authority, which owns the building and the land.
“It is really a special opportunity,” said Emma Colley, vice president of affordable housing development at HELP Development Corp. “Firstly, restoring such a beautiful building and, more importantly, providing the neighbors and community members with a whole vibrant space that they can be a part of.”
The units will all be one-bedroom and available to people aged 55 and above.
A total of 37 units will be affordable to individuals earning up to 50% of the area median income. The rest will be priced for residents earning up to 30% of AMI.
That translates to between $25,770 and $42,950 a year.
The $34 million project is backed by Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, meaning they will remain affordable for at least 40 years after construction.
A neighborhood ‘eyesore’
Built in 1900, the four-story property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is not locally designated, meaning it is not protected against demolition. --->READ MORE HERE
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