Transforming Age Merges SHAG, Two Affiliated Entities to Form Affordable Housing Arm

Senior living nonprofit Transforming Age has unveiled a new affordable housing arm and brand called “Circ.”

The newly created brand — which Bellevue, Washington-based Transforming Age formats as CIRC — is an amalgam of Sustainable Housing for Ageless Generations (SHAG), which affiliated with Transforming Age in 2021; and two other Transforming Age-affiliated entities: Community Life Foundation (CLF) and Downtown Action to Save Housing (DASH).

The newly formed brand will continue to develop, own and operate affordable housing communities while providing resident services and programs to communities owned by external partners. It will also continue to serve about 6,000 residents in 39 communities throughout the Puget Sound area of Washington, of which Circ owns 15.

The formation of Circ brings together three entities known for forward-thinking ways to serve low-income older adults in the years ahead. CLF in particular is notable for an approach it calls the “neighborhood network,” which gives residents access to essential services, resources and programs offered one to two miles from the community where they live. That is also an approach SHAG favored in the past.

The name “Circ” doesn’t have a specific meaning, according to a press release announcing the move. Instead, it references the “circle of resources and connections that are created inside and outside each community,” according to Circ Executive Director Karen Lucas said in a press release.

“After SHAG, CLF, DASH and all the others we’ve had to deal with over the years, we’re excited to be moving away from acronyms,” she said.

Lucas previously spent more than six years as SHAG’s COO.

The newly created affordable housing arm is “vital to the Transforming Age mission,” according to Transforming Age President and CEO Torsten Hirche.

“There are a lot of aging baby boomers that don’t qualify for subsidized housing and can’t afford private-pay senior living options,” Hirche said in the press release. “We think there’s an opportunity to leverage our combined resources and take models that we’ve developed and deploy them into the areas of greatest need.”

He added that the organization is “confident we can deliver innovation to a market and industry that needs some new ideas.”

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