Kennebunk is a community that has retained many of its older residents as they became empty nester households and has also been an attractive retirement community for many older residents. Our traditional village areas offer a variety of housing types, including apartments for older people, condominioms, and several nursing homes and assisted living communities. We also have several private health care provider companies that provide regular assistance and services to older residents who require some form of ongoing assistance in order to remain in their homes. One of our comprehensive Plan goals recognizes the need to foster public/private partnerships in order to address the housing needs of all age groups and all income levels in the community, and we believe we have been quite successful in working to implement this goal. We have town operated, funded and supported programs that benefit seniors. General Assistance and Food outreach programs assist low income seniors with food heat and housing. Community – based programs, like A Place to Start, connects families to resources in order to help support loved ones dealing with Alzheimer’s diagnosis. The Senior Center has been providing social, educational and cultural programming to older adults for 25 years.

Kennebunk is extremely lucky to have the newly formed non-profit organization – No Place Like Home – located in our community and we have committed to actively working with this group to continue their effort to plan for the needs of our aging population. No Place Like Home was established in August of 2014. It’s mission is to “build an age-friendly community that helps older adults thrive in their homes and neighborhoods, and remain engaged and valued.”

It is also important for all of our various town departments to solicit feedback from our elderly residents regarding the various town services we provide. In addition to gathering input from older adult, and their families, we want to hear from other residents about their understanding of how to become more age-friendly. It is important to note that many of our seniors are quite involved in local government affairs, as well as serving on many of the various town boards and committees and, we will continue to encourage input from our older residents in order to understand and attempt to fully address the short and long term needs of all our residents.