Branching Out: 3 Ways to Diversify Revenue Streams in Your Senior Living Community

Resident populations in senior living communities are up. Great news, right?

Yes, but the cloud lurking behind that silver lining is that communities only have so many apartments per location, meaning that the growth we’re now seeing has a definite ceiling.

What’s more, for most operators, NOI margins at full occupancy are still not at the levels they were prior to the pandemic, and many have not been able to increase rates enough to offset the various layers of cost inflation they’re facing (think insurance rates, construction costs, and labor expenses).

Indeed, some of this margin compression is likely permanent. Even as supply and demand imbalances in senior housing units normalize to support additional rate increases, labor shortages and other ongoing pressures mean operators will always be playing catch-up.

That means senior living communities looking to stay ahead of rising expenses and ever-tightening margins may need to get creative by exploring new revenue streams. Fortunately, many diversification opportunities will not only help boost the bottom line, but may also help grow brand awareness, deliver better value to current residents, and appeal to prospective residents and employees.

Here are three promising revenue-generating offerings to think about adding to your portfolio of services.

1. Be a PAL: Personal Assistant Liaison Programs

Both scalable and easily tailored to almost any community or population, a Personal Assistant Liaison (PAL) program provides an à la carte suite of resident services that go beyond your typical community offerings.

These services might include things such as closet organization, holiday shopping, or dog walking, all of which can be done by workers who don’t have a healthcare background (take that, labor shortage!). You may even be able to tap students from a local work-study or community service program.

A PAL is a relatively seamless way for a community to give residents added support while also generating added revenue. And because these services are time sensitive and can help residents maintain their independence, many families will be happy to pay a little bit extra.

Best of all, residents can easily manage PAL requests and send messages or updates to their PAL through the Icon Community Engagement app.

2. Open to Outsiders: Making Amenities Available to Non-Residents

Maybe your community has a top-notch salon or a state-of-the-art fitness center or an incredible cultural enrichment program. These types of amenities are exactly what your residents value in living there, but the general public may have no idea that these offerings are right in their backyard.

Opening your facilities and amenities to non-residents is a great way to not only generate additional revenue, but also an excellent opportunity to become more enmeshed with the community beyond your walls.

Even better? Opening your doors lets you passively advertise to families considering a senior living move. Outside users also means new faces in your community’s spaces, which can help contribute to a more vibrant social atmosphere for residents as well.

There are several ways to approach opening your amenities to the general public:

• Open hours for certain amenities: Possibilities here include welcoming members of the general public to one of your dining facilities during office hours or making certain fitness classes available for a drop-in fee.
• Day (or week) passes: A limited “all-access pass” good for a fixed period of time.
• Ongoing access to specific amenities: This would allow non-residents to use certain amenities on an ongoing basis – kind of like a gym membership, but for a range of amenity options.
• Ongoing membership to multiple community amenities: This setup would allow non-residents to take fitness classes, eat in the dining room, and more – but just for the day.

Whichever route you take, you can track visitors and their interactions with your community by making them “members” in Icon’s Community Engagement app.

When opening facilities or amenities to outsiders, it’s important to closely monitor staffing and capacity at all times to ensure that residents always have access to the amenities they’re paying for (our Bi-Directional Communication tool can help). Just as with a PAL program, however, most additional staff needed to cover new users will almost always be non-healthcare personnel.

Another consideration: you’ll likely need a platform that lets residents and guests book facilities (from pickleball courts to private dining rooms). Icon’s new amenity management features can help!

3. Care for the Whole Person: Behavioral Health Services

Depression, anxiety, and loneliness are common concerns among older adults. In fact, the WHO estimates that about 14 percent of this population lives with some sort of mental health issue. Whether they’re grappling with the loss of friends or loved ones, dealing with health concerns, missing the routines and certainties of their earlier lives, or some combination of those things, many of your residents could probably use a little extra support.

Fortunately, senior living communities are generally well positioned to provide behavioral health services. Adding these services can be as simple as subscribing to a digital platform that residents can access for behavioral health management and treatment or as complex as bringing on specialized staff to provide in-person treatment.

In either case, mental health is always a delicate topic, which is why it will be important to provide plenty of information as you introduce and roll out these services.

The good news: by offering these services in house, you’ll not only be saving your residents the hassle of seeking an outside provider (something they may not have the motivation or wherewithal to do), you’ll also be demonstrating to them once again the attention you’re giving to their overall health and well-being.

Of course, Icon can help facilitate your rollout of behavioral health services by integrating with other tech platforms to make managing this new area of care a snap.

It’s a Great Time to Explore Additional Revenue Sources

Not all of the ideas outlined here will work for every community, of course, but the key is to find at least one or two options that seem like a good fit and explore the possibilities they have to offer. And if these three don’t seem right for your community, you’ll find even more revenue-generating strategies in our upcoming whitepaper, Scalable Senior Living: An Introduction to Alternative Revenue Streams. Curious to see how the Icon platform can help you manage new offerings? Set up a demo. We’d love to show you what’s possible!