NORCs: Naturally Occuring Retirement Communities

"More than 5,000 NORCs, of all socioeconomic stripes, are scattered across the U.S. As such, they are something of a throwback to America before nursing homes, and a window onto the future as the Baby Boom edges, independent minded, toward retirement.Since the early 1990s, with swelling numbers of citizens living into their 80s and 90s, experts on aging have pushed across the U.S. to formally recognize NORCs and provide tax and philanthropic dollars for medical and social services. New York City, for example, has awarded grants of up to $200,000 to 28 officially designated NORCs, covering 46,000 people in about 720 apartment buildings."