Healthy Housing in Richardsville: A Photovoice Project on Community Livability for Aging Adults

Abstract

Aging in place refers to staying in one’s home well into older age. When gentrification occurs, older adults face financial challenges in sustaining affordable housing. Resident displacement results when moderate to high-income home buyers stream into neighborhoods and drive property values to prohibitive levels. Richardsville (pseudonym) is one of many communities in Atlanta’s inner city that has transformed from a blighted, long-derelict area to a hotbed of high rent apartment units, mixed with quarter-million-dollar-plus homes. Richardsville Senior Residences, an affordable rental unit, was built to provide housing for a mix of incomes and ages and retain longtime residents in Atlanta’s neighborhoods. In this community-based research project, we explore the lived experiences of eight older adults in a series of focus groups to discuss photographic images and give meaning to understand how they described aging in place. Common narratives among participants include access to outdoor spaces, smoke-free facilities, health and wellness, access to services, and social connections.