Chapter 1How Long Can I Stay?

Aging in place has long been a focus for proponents of assisted living housing. However, the reality of life for seniors in assisted living is often tenuous, and this homelike setting repeatedly ends up being a temporary stop for older adults. Residents frequently ask, “How long can I stay?”, only to find that there is no easy answer. Increasing frailty and declining health can mean that an elderly resident may be asked to leave assisted living, reducing aging in place in this housing/health care option to what I have termed “prolonged residence.” Based on eighteen months of anthropological fieldwork at two assisted living sites in Chicago, Illinois, this article presents the individual struggles providers and residents face in interpreting aging in place. Although grappling with disparate aspects of the same issue, residents and providers both share conflicted feelings about how long one should remain in assisted living and what aging in place actually means.