Growing Virginia Nonprofit Takes Cues From For-profit Senior Living Counterparts

An affordable senior housing nonprofit in Virginia is looking to its for-profit counterparts for inspiration on improving quality of life for its residents as it grows.

Reston, Virginia-based Fellowship Square has four communities in the area today and has taken a slow approach to growth. The nonprofit, which is developing its fifth community now, spends years stabilizing and bringing in new programs and services, according to CEO Christy Zeitz. Lately, the operator is taking cues from ideas implemented in market rate and luxury offerings and finding ways to make them work at lower costs.

One example Zeitz provided was offering housekeeping and laundry services for its residents, along with free WiFi.

“This is something that many of our residents would have never dreamed that they could afford,” Zeitz told Senior Housing News. “Regardless of the resources, when you get to be a certain age, there are some things that just make life better. That’s really what Fellowship Square prides itself on is trying to bring some of those things to our properties.”

Fellowship Square is also using wellness programming for additional inspiration to better support its residents. This currently takes the form of bringing in eye screenings, oral health exams, hearing screenings, health screenings and immunizations. The organization is also meeting in the near future to discuss offering healthier snack options for residents.

Another recent change taken from market-rate senior living is data tracking for programs and events to better determine who is attending and what needs to be improved, Zeitz said.

To make these programs happen, Fellowship Square focuses on connecting with partners and funders that want to support affordable senior living alongside fundraising efforts.

“We look for every opportunity to speak to health care systems, insurance companies, local clinics and people who are in the wellness space that want to give back, that have opportunities that they want to share information or activities with our residents that want to make a difference in people’s lives,” Zeitz said. “I believe that the resources are out there, we just need to go and get it.”

The nonprofit has 100% occupancy across its four-community portfolio due to the level of demand around the Washington, D.C. area it operates in, and keeps a waitlist between 500 and 600 residents. The organization has a turnover rate of roughly 12 units per year at each of its properties. 

It plans to break ground on its fifth community next year, which will add 72 units to its overall footprint, with an estimated timeline to completion sitting around 18 months. Unlike other affordable housing operators and developers, Fellowship Square focuses solely on senior living rather than incorporating multifamily development and offerings.

“We’re really focusing on keeping residents healthy and independent, and we want to spend a lot of time and effort bringing the resources around that keep them out of the emergency rooms and independent longer,” Zeitz said. “Having the supportive services really means a lot to us as an organization.”

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