Scott I saw something like that here too on TV just a while ago. Was really interesting. They were talking about the cities allowing zoning for the pods. And something about they would have to be removed as soon as the need for them had passed.

There is a small manufactured home about that size. One bedroom one bath tiny kitchen and living room. My friend lived in one for a little over a year and I think she said it was close to 35K. I imagine the medical monitors bump the cost of the granny pod up quite a bit.

Chris

Hmmm, I wish they'd be called something beside "Granny Pads."
Makes me think of DEPENDS.

But good concept. And maybe recyclable too, when the need is over and perhaps the Medicare will override local ordinances so you can put a sort of dwelling in your back yard like a trailer with someone living in it. A ramp to the main house.

LOL, moccasin, that's exactly what I thought when I saw the message title!

Aside from the monitoring equipment and video cameras, a 'convertible Granny pod' is what we have planned for our new addition. Without the bathroom or entry (still unfinished) it measures 12x24 on the outside, and has a back entrance at grade, with room for wheelchair ramp. We left space so that the room can be divided into a small bedroom and sitting-room/kitchenette. For just a few hundred dollars, we can convert it to an efficiency apartment.

In the meantime we are using the room as an extension of our kitchen--the kitchenette is our new prep sink. We use the room for extended family dinners, and it's in use everyday as a playroom for our grandson. While construction is on-going, it's also the tool-room.

I have a notebook with ideas for converting one closet to a pantry/portable kitchen workspace, another closet to an office space, a window-seat to a bed, and the pass-through 'window' to shallow shelving.

If we ever have to implement this plan I will have to temporarily give up my 'borrowed view' from the room's windows, but I feel lucky to be able to offer the space to one of our parents. A pod would be a great, albeit more expensive, alternative.

Here is a link that might be useful: Convertible addition

Other than the medical monitoring, I lived (if you want to call it that) in a travel trailer about 8 x 24 after Katrina. I almost went NUTS.

Of course, I know there will be a get-rich=quick guy who will buy a fleet of these things and rent them in same way they rent/sell scooters for Medicare patients with limited mobility. A sort of hospital bed with walls? A hearse with a bathroom? Hmmmm, to have the toilet and shower, that means plumbing issues. Again I'm seeing sewer lines going across the lawn to the house sewer connection, brings up memories of Katrina temp housing all over again, deja vu if you will.I'd have to plant kudzu or something quick growing all over it.

BTW, Plant Delights Nursery in NC has a VARIEGATED KUDZU which they are selling to state residents only. They won't ship it, because too many locales prohibit planting it. Too bad, because I think it would solve a lot of shade problems for Desertsteph, if allowed to grow on a frame outside her front door....makes a lovely shady patio. Yep.

The idea of plopping a granny out in a glorified storage shed in the backyard while machines monitor her is not my idea of treating granny well in her old age.

It really seems kinda sick me to, as efficient an idea as it is.

Granny is not a barn animal...she is a human being...

Some older people want to feel independent, want their privacy, and don't want to feel like a burden to their kids, so I think in some cases it would fit the bill very nicely.

My mother would have loved something like this, having her own little place but close to family.

I agree, oldgardener. If it is done to keep her close to you, and not to put her out to pasture, I would myself like that. And it would allow older and younger generations to assume the life style they prefer.

But instead of a trailer, I'd much prefer a very nice small shed with some space for a patio and ground level access, out among the flowers and the birds and the sky.