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Briefcase: Age havens bloom throughout the U.S.
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Oct. 29, 2005
Age havens bloom throughout the U.S.
The condominium that Richard and Mary Jean Ebens, a retired couple, bought three years ago for $305,000 has some nice amenities: 2,000 square feet, or 186 square meters, of living space, a garage, a basement, a deck looking over the garden, and a reasonable 45-minute drive to Boston.
But the social benefits are what make it special to Richard, 75, a former Episcopal pastor, and Mary Jean, 69, a former operations manager for a computer company. That is because The Villages at Quail Run, the 150-unit "active adult community" the Ebenses call home, is only for people 55 and older.
Age-restricted developments - which typically lack the medical care and services available in nursing homes and assisted living facilities - expanded in the 1990s in the sunny retirement havens of the American South and Southwest after the U.S. Congress granted developers exemptions from housing anti-discrimination statutes.
Thanks to accommodating local zoning rules and officials' desire to attract older residents who are not a drain on the tax base, the projects are becoming increasingly common outside the Sun Belt, particularly in expensive housing markets in the Northeast. But some housing advocates claim they are edging young families and others out of the housing market.
"Now you're seeing a boom going on all around the country," said Jeff Jenkins, assistant director of 50-plus housing for the National Association of Home Builders, an industry group. About 60 percent of such developments are now outside the Sun Belt, with growth in northerly states driven in part by buyers' wishes to stay closer to family and the communities where they spent their working lives, he said.
The number of projects has grown over the past decade to about 1,250 in 44 states, according to a private database, the National Directory of Lifestyle Communities. More than six times as many new projects were opened for sale in 2004 - 99, compared with 15 in 1995, with 74 percent of the communities built last year constructed outside the 13 Sun Belt states.
Developers are responding to the aging of the 78 million baby boomers born from 1946 to 1964. Active adult housing accounted for one-third of the 38,612 homes built across the United States last year by Pulte Homes, compared with one-quarter of its home production in 2001. "We don't see any end to the active adult boom in sight," said Richard Dugas, chief executive of Pulte.
So far there has been no large movement against such projects, said Brian Green, a fair housing policy director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. But some question whether age-restricted housing is taking up too great a share of new construction.
"We're getting blocked out of the marketplace for non-age-restricted housing," said Jeff Rhuda of Symes Associates, a developer in Beverly, Massachusetts. "While they've been choking down on regulations for building single-family homes, they've been changing zoning to create incentives for age-restricted housing."

Although Richard Ebens embraces the trend, he worries the glut of adult communities will force out young families struggling to buy into a shrinking market.
"We are an aging population, so these projects serve a need," Ebens said. But, he added, "I frankly don't understand how young families can afford a house these days." (AP)

Obituary
**POSTPONED** Due to the impending storm, the interment has been rescheduled for Tuesday, March 21st, 2023 at 11am.

Hudson, MA

Richard Frank Ebens, husband of Mary Jean (Comings, Smith), father of Linda Ann Ebens McGrath and Shane Huntington Ebens (deceased) and grandfather of
Tomas Huntington Ebens, brother of Marjorie Joan Bergeron (deceased) and Dorothy Jean Phipps of Daytona, FL, and many nieces and nephews, died 14 February 2023

Richard was born in Somerville, MA 6 December 1929 to Frank Joseph Ebens and Dorothy (Davis). He graduated from Winchester, MA high school, Northeastern
University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineer with honors in 1952. He worked for three years in the field with Faye, Spafford and Thorndike. He then
returned to college and obtained a Masters of Divinity from Berkeley Divinity School in New Haven, CT (now affiliated with Yale University) where he graduated
with honors In 1958.

He was ordained to the Episcopal Deaconate on 21 June 1958 at St. Paul's Cathedral Boston by the Right Reverend Frederic Lawrence and ordained as Priest
21 December 1958 at St. John's Church in Hingham, MA by the Right Reverend Anson P. Stokes. After serving as Curate in Hingham 3 years, he accepted a joint
position as Vicar to the Chapel of St. George's in Manchester, MD and Chaplin to the Episcopal students at Western Maryland College in Westminster, MD. While
there he met and married Mary Jean who was a widow at that time.

Shortly after that they left Maryland and spent a year in Pennsylvania before he was installed as rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Hudson, MA. He served in
that position for 24 years. During this time he also served on the Hudson School Committee for 7 years as well as the Hudson Town Improvement Committee and
Hudson Clergy Association.

After retirement he held three interim positions, St. Andrew's, North Grafton, AllSaints, Whalom, and again at St. Luke's.

His hobbies include wood working, both carpentry and furniture, and antique clocks, genealogy and tennis. He and his family also built a cottage in West Rindge, NH.

Richard’s funeral service was held at All Saints Church, 11 Irving St., Worcester on Saturday, February 25 at 11:00AM. The interment scheduled for Tuesday, February 28, at 11:00AM in Forestvale Cemetery, Broad Street, Hudson has been postponed and has been rescheduled for Tuesday, March 21, 2023 at 11AM. Tighe Hamilton Regional Funeral Home is honored to be assisting Richard’s family with arrangements.

In lieu of flowers, contributions maybe sent to Heifer International, 1 World Ave., Little Rock, AR 72202

Services
FUNERAL SERVICE
Saturday
February 25, 2023
11:00 AM
All Saints Church (Worcester)
COMMITTAL
Tuesday
February 28, 2023
11:00 AM
Forestvale Cemetery
Broad St
Hudson, MA - Massachusetts 01749

Richard Frank Ebens

1 Tribute
December 6, 1929 - February 14, 2023 (93 years old)

Hudson, Massachusetts

Richard Frank Ebens Obituary

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Richard Frank Ebens of Hudson, Massachusetts, born in Somerville, Massachusetts, who passed away on February 14, 2023, at the age of 93, leaving to mourn family and friends. Leave a sympathy message to the family on the memorial page of Richard Frank Ebens to pay them a last tribute.

He was loved and cherished by many people including : his wife Mary Jean; his children, Linda Ann Ebens McGrath and Shane Huntington Ebens; his grandson Tomas Huntington Ebens; his sisters, Marjorie Joan Bergeron and Dorothy Jean Phipps of Daytona, FL; and his parents, Frank Joseph Ebens and Dorothy (Davis). He was also cherished by many nieces and nephews.