- Series
- The challenge of aging
- Air Date
- 1961-05-09
- Duration
- 00:29:47
- Episode Description
- This program features interviews with Mary Cleverly, Federal Housing Administration; Norman Mason, U.S. Housing and Home Finance Agency; George Beauchamp, Ph.D., Kissimmee, Florida; and William Fitch, American Association of Retired Persons.
- Series Description
- Part of a WUOM series on human behavior, this series seeks to explore the challenges facing the aged.
- Subject(s)
- Creator(s)
- University of Michigan (Producer)Phillips, Glen (Producer)Phillips, Glen (Host)
- Contributors
- Cleverly, Mary (Interviewee)Mason, Norman (Interviewee)Beauchamp, George (Interviewee)Fitch, William (Interviewee)
- Genre(s)
- Geographic Region(s)
- regions
- Time Period
- 1961-1970
[00:05 - 00:10]
The following program is produced by the University of Michigan broadcasting service under a grant of
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aid from the National Educational Television and Radio Center in cooperation with the
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National Association of educational broadcasters.
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The challenge of aging. Today's program living arrangements
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for the aged. A program from the series of human behavior
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social and medical research produced by the University of Michigan
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broadcasting service with special assistance from the National Health Council
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and the National help forum. These programs have been developed from
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interviews with men and women who have the too often unglamorous job of basic
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research. Research in medicine. The physical sciences social
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sciences and the behavioral sciences. OK Janelle you will hear what may
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seem like strange or unfamiliar sob these are the sounds of the
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participants office his laboratory or his clinic where the interviews were
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first conducted. The people you will hear today are Mrs. Mary Cleverley
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who was a special assistant in the office of the commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration.
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Mr. NORMAN P. Mason who is the administrator of the United States housing and Home Finance
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Agency Dr. George Beecham of Kissimmee Florida and Mr.
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William C. fit age who is the executive director of the American Association of Retired
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Persons. And my name is Glenn Philips. My first
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question was addressed to Mr. Mason. What question would you like to
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see answered about aging.
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He answered What I would like to have this conference answer
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for me is whether the responsibility for housing
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our elderly citizens is solely that of the federal government or
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does it belong to private individuals. Is it the responsibility of the
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city the county the state or whose responsibility is it.
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And Mrs cleverly you want to sound off on this.
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I am hardly the one to speak I think because I'm close represent the federal
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government as far as market insurance is concerned. But we
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are. Working very hard to have the private investor take
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their share of the responsibility and show government and private
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persons can work together.
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And I know Dacca reach him has got some ideas on this. He actually does look
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after older citizens.
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Well I of course the help of the federal government not
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just in the matter of financing but also in the matter of
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guidance and advice. Has been a great deal of
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assistance to anybody who is seriously undertaking to provide housing
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for retired people in orange gardens for example we've had a great deal of
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help from.
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The FHA in the land planning the various parts of the federal
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government can be enormously helpful in bringing together information and raising
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the standards of housing. They are also helpful in finding financing
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guaranteeing the financing. But I think the primary job is that
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of private housing to provide the housing for retired people
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the same as it is their job to provide housing for American citizens generally
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that you know you work for a lot of organizations that and you
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have worked for government so you have to have better sides of this.
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I feel like I'm playing both sides of the street at this point. Actually though I do think it is
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important to emphasize the role of the individual or people doing for themselves I think that
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this is a team arrangement. Frequently they do want to look to the government programs
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your own program to assist in financing but realistically too
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there are older people who have retired who can find housing
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better housing than most people are talking about when they're talking about housing for the elderly.
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So that I think that your point is a good one that it isn't.
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It's all of us it seems to me and certainly I think we need to reemphasize the role of
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the individual in his own responsibility for providing some of those for himself or for
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themselves as a group.
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One of my pet projects that we've done the market's insurance for in
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FHA the Federal Housing Administration in Hartford Connecticut
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called church homes incorporated and it allows for
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independent living off healthy elderly people.
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But I think we should define know for I call on an elderly person that we're talking about
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is by statute 65 or a female at
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62. In public housing they have two different ages
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you know 65 for the male and 62 for the female.
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No I don't use the term elderly housing at all. I like to use the term
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retirement housing and that is definitely not based on 65 and
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62 because retirement starts in this country today
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for many people at the age of 38. These young men who are coming out of the army with their
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20 years service are retiring just as surely and just as definitely
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retiring to them means they're going to look around get a job they like.
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And settle down in an area they like and then do something for
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the rest their lives different from what they've done at 65 if they're healthy. For most people it
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means exactly the same thing.
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Retirement does not necessarily mean that we're going to sit down and rock in a
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rocking chair and be elderly when our are away from housing now.
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That's true. And yet on the other hand housing is necessary for
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all ages and it should be good housing. And it is quite true
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that the problem we've got is not going to be necessarily the
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independent individual housing orange gardens or the
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group housing of California. It needs to fit
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differing needs of different people and adjust itself so that they can live in them
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effectively and efficiently for the rest of their lives.
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You know I think there is something that needs to be emphasized here and I think it's even part of a change of attitude we've often
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thought of housing for the elderly or elderly housing or something that isn't necessarily good for the
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community. And I think we have to re-examine that. Your housing project and
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the one I'm speaking of actually. The community is grateful to have them the
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contribution they make not only by payroll but in service and all the other kinds of
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leadership. It seems to me this is something that's desirable.
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Right that's the kind of housing that people want to have it all they don't want to break in here
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because I spent the noon hour at this conference being educated
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on just exactly what you're talking about and that is terminology. One of
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the reasons that people don't like these things is because we call them
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projects and this visions to them something strange. I
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think I listened to that our banquet speaker of last night who is from Sweden as
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you know and the great expert on elderly matters in Sweden and he says
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in Sweden in our housing needs we're getting away from all
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these terms that we have used to set apart the
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elderly from the ordinary person and we're getting
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to understand over there that we want to live on our housing
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terms to be the same as they are for young folks. This is cleverly you
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sat there and listened. Did you hear any of this.
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I heard a great deal of it and I think I can think of specific
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instances in this country where projects and I'm using that dirty word projects
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have been refused in the community. They've been refused to have a
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change in zoning permitted to have a very desirable set of
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housing units because they were older people and they didn't want them to come into the
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community. I think of one particularly vicious attack on a group that was done I
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believe in California where when the zoning hearing took
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place is the chief objection was they didn't want it in because
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older people would smell.
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It. If ever there were a need for community education I think this is a good
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example of it because I think too many communities are living in the past in
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terms of what they thought of as the old folks home rather than housing as no
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no no this is a tract of housing that people of any age would enjoy. And for
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them to be so restrictive in terms of zoning it means that they really don't understand what we're
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talking about.
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Well we're finding that we have actual proof now that a properly designed
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housing for the elderly project is not undesirable.
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It does not depreciate existing property values. It does not hurt the
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value of single homes in the community. In fact it it if
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it's properly designed and properly placed it enhanced is the value
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because then here is a place for the older people to live near their children
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and yet not have to be right under the same roof with them.
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Now to be Chairman you and I were arguing a bit ago about this business.
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That kind of people we put into a project together.
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I'll be glad to do good. Try it again to convince you
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because I feel very strongly that a good retirement community is made up
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of people of all ages the proportions are greater of the older
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people in a retirement community. But I think you need families with children.
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You need people of all ages it should be a balanced community and not
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just gray haired people getting greyer together.
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Where our brave act of age and I don't like to drive into my house and
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have to fight over a child and I suppose I resent these kids who
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play baseball and do wrestling on my little square of front lawn.
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I think maybe we have part of the compromise even though most of the people who live at Grey Gables
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are within a certain range of rage that range but
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within the setting there they have younger people who help serve the Neals
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It's located right within an active community so that you have all ages all around and this
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is not isolated and I think this is a major difference.
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I know of one project that we've done the market's financing faught work project again
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and well I am I can't change it I have it respectable.
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It's in Audubon Iowa and where they have built a very delightful
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facility. Instead of project you notice I'm using another word now
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where they are incorporating an area in the
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building where the community make meet.
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In other words they have a separate big auditorium that's too big a word to use for it a
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big meeting room with its own kitchen its own serving pantry and its own room
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and other facilities and the community is encouraged the Chamber of Commerce the
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Lions the CO wanna send others to come in and have their luncheon meetings their dinner meetings
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all of them in there so that they are coming to this person's a
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living area and bringing in the active life of the community.
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Could I just ask one question yesterday you talk about living facilities with about Mrs.
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Cleverley. Do you mean single units where the elderly
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couple may live or do you mean a institutional type of living unit
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institutional types a dirty word too. I am
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referring of course to Dr.. Berger and experiences in
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Sweden but he told me the other day that they have of course the units there were the single couple may
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live as they have always lived and thereby maintain the dignity of a
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family.
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And this particular pride project I'm speaking about
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is is one which is but we call non housekeeping. In other words
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the if the family unit whether it's a one person or a two
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person family has privacy they have their own bath and their own
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living sleeping area. But they have their meals together
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in a dining room. They do not have housekeeping units.
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Frankly I do not call this institutional living. Other people don't always
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agree with me.
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Would this be the type of thing of the living. But the multi unit dwelling or
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is it not.
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It's a master unit dwelling set but it's a non housekeeping multi-unit dwelling.
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