A new $40 million retirement community is in the works to accommodate the growing population of Tiffin.
Tiffin has become one of the fastest-growing cities in Iowa, and the city has started working on a housing development project to accommodate the rising number of residents. One major highlight the city has in store is a community retirement complex.
“Our population, our demographics, are pretty young,” Doug Boldt, city administrator of Tiffin, said. “We don’t have anything on the other end of these demographics.”
According to the U.S. Census website, Tiffin’s population spiked almost 50 percent in the last four years. Annually, the population has increased by 8.9 percent and was roughly 4,000 in 2020. The population has now hit an all-time high of 6,325 and is estimated to double by the year 2030. However, from this data, only 9.6 percent of the population is aged 65 years or older.
Jeff Kellbach, an aging specialist with Johnson County, who works to provide older adults and caregivers information and aid in accessing supportive services and care coordination, explained that a common issue surrounding retirement and nursing homes is the lack of space. He mentioned that creating a large complex in a town with a growing population can be beneficial, even if it only impacts a small percentage of the total people living in an area.
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“There can be ebbs and flows with nursing homes, certainly times when they’re completely full,” Kellbach said.
The city wanted to ensure that older adults with various needs would have a secure place to reside. The complex will be divided into three sections determined by what accommodations are needed for each resident.
One section of the complex will strictly have nursing beds for residents in need of around-the-clock care, while the other two will be split between independent and assisted living apartments.
The city also added commercial businesses within the complex for residents to easily access.
According to The Gazette, the neighborhood will include a salon and barbershop, a small chapel, and other places that fill the everyday needs of residents. Tiffin is also looking to hire a local doctor to work as the community medical director to ensure transportation will not be an issue and provide a more hospitable environment for the community.
The complex is currently being developed by Daryl High of High Property Management.
Boldt said as of right now, High Property Management oversees the design and carrying out of the project. The city has helped them with any certificates or information needed, but the project is almost fully run by the developers.
Latasha DeLoach, Iowa City Senior Center coordinator, works to lessen the social isolation of older adults. She said providing a sense of normalcy and community in a retirement community is important. A downside of these complexes can be the loss of connection and loneliness.
“There’s going to be an issue depending on how far out we put some of these retirement communities,” DeLoach said. “Are our older adults going to be able to get access to different services, resources, doctors’ appointments, et cetera?”