On December 11, I went to a meeting of the local CCRC Area Council (CAC), a group comprised of residents from 14 retirement communities in our area. (Kendal and Crosslands count as two separate communities, and each sends a representative.) It was my first meeting as Kendal’s newly-appointed representative. CAC has quarterly meetings at the member communities, on a rotating basis. This time, the meeting was hosted by Riddle Village, just outside of Media.

CAC serves a variety of purposes, but one of the most important is surveying its membership to see how various aspects of retirement life differ from one community to the next. At this meeting, the survey that drew the most interest was one that tallied the rent increases for 2025 for all the CCRCs. CAC does this survey every year.

The results of this year’s survey are presented in the chart below. Rent increases for the last 10 years are shown. You can see how rate increases spiked in 2023 because of Covid, then subsided. (Note that these are rates of increase—the actual rates didn’t go down after 2023, they just increased at a slower rate.) Prior to the Covid spike, rate increases were fairly similar (2% to 4%) across all the communities.

Annual increases in the monthly rates for CAC member communities. Note that Lima Estates and Granite Run Estates are both part of the ACTS group and have experienced identical increases over the 10-year period shown. Therefore, there is only a single line representing both communities.

You can see that KCC (Kendal-Crosslands) has done a good job of keeping increases under control. It was the lowest of the group in 2024, and it is tied for lowest for 2025 increases.

I was startled to see the wide range of rate increases. In 2023, the lowest increase (2.9%) was for Riddle Village and the highest (9%) was for both The Quadrangle and Freedom Village. Since then, the range is less, but it is still striking. For 2025, the lowest is 3% (KCC and Wesley Enhanced Living) and the highest is 5.5% (Freedom Village).

Most members of CAC are non-profits, but there are two for-profit communities: The Quadrangle and Freedom Village. These two also happen to have the highest rate increases for each of the last four years. Could they be taking advantage of post-Covid inflation to jack up their profits? There’s no way to tell. It may be that they have been adding services at a rate that justifies the high increases (but this seems unlikely).

CAC is performing a valuable service for residents in compiling this annual data.

Other surveys. Any CAC member can propose a survey. In addition to the rent increases, the results of several others were reported at the meeting.

One survey had to do with the meals offered on Sunday. All offer a Sunday brunch, and it is popular everywhere. But only eight offered an evening meal on Sunday. Residents at the other six communities have to fend for themselves to get their Sunday supper.

Another survey concerned the cost difference between housing for one person and the same housing for a couple. The extra cost of the entrance fee for a second person varied from $10,000 to $50,000. The extra monthly amount for the second person varied from $897 to $5,253. Different sizes of units explain some of the cost differences. But the largest fee differences are due, at least in part, to the fact that some of the inexpensive ones apply only to “Type C” contracts (with pay-as-you-go healthcare).

KCC residents may not be familiar with Type C contracts, since KCC offers only “Type A” contracts (one monthly fee regardless of level of care), but many CCRCs offer both types. I learned at the meeting that CAC member Wesley Enhanced Living offers only Type C.

KCC’s fees didn’t make it into the survey, but I checked the April disclosure statement and found that our second-person fees are well within the ranges mentioned above. The additional cost of the entry fee for a second occupant is typically $34,900, and the extra monthly fee generally adds $2,000-$2200 per month for the second person.