A meeting concerning the hopeful future development of small homes in Monroe County is being hosted at Morrison-Talbott Library in Waterloo on March 31 at 7 p.m.

Folks interested in discussing and promoting the addition of smaller, more affordable homes for older residents throughout the county are invited to attend.

This effort is being led by Susan Barker, who has been looking to encourage such development for some time.

Speaking with the Republic-Times, Barker pointed to the substantial chunk of local residents who are over 65 years old.

From folks she’s spoken with already, she’s heard some remarks about such elderly residents being interested in selling the large, family homes they’ve owned for some time and moving into a smaller dwelling.

Barker stressed that the kinds of homes she’s interested in encouraging aren’t the tiny homes which have become something of a trend in recent years, but rather small ranch houses with 1-2 bedrooms.

Speaking further on the idea in Waterloo, she noted that such a development wouldn’t be meant to go in a subdivision like Remlok with its large houses.

Establishing a subdivision with such homes, she continued, would allow older residents to sell their large houses and move into a home with more accessibility while keeping their privacy.

This shift would, in turn, allow younger residents the chance to move into these larger homes which are ideal for full families.

Barker further spoke about the broad distaste for subsidized senior housing, commenting that access to smaller homes in this community would have less impact on senior residents and their typically fixed salaries.