FAQs

Homestead Village is a Life Plan Community, formerly known as a Continuing Care Retirement Community, or CCRC.

A Life Plan Community offers many advantages, including an active, maintenance free, independent lifestyle; countless cultural and recreational opportunities; and the security of future care, should it ever be needed. Additionally, living in a Life Plan Community can be more affordable than staying in your home because you no longer have to pay for costly maintenance, taxes, etc.

Homestead Village is nestled on a beautiful 90-acre, tree-lined campus, but it’s only three miles from the shopping, dining and cultural opportunities of historic downtown Lancaster. Homestead Village is also centrally located near airports and highways, giving you easy access to major cities, such as Philadelphia, New York City, Baltimore, and Harrisburg. Numerous healthcare facilities surround the campus, as well as pharmacies, banks, restaurants, post office, grocery stores (including Stauffer's and Wegmans!) and more.

Complimentary transportation to medical appointments is provided within a five-mile radius of the main campus between 8:00 AM and 6:00 PM, Monday through Friday. Based on availability, transportation to appointments may be limited to one trip per week per resident.

Off-campus transportation (excluding medical appointments) to local destinations, such as grocery stores, Central Market, Fulton Theatre, and the mall, are provided through our life enrichment programming schedule.

If transportation is needed for a personal reason—or to a destination farther away, such as an airport or vacation home — specially scheduled arrangements may be made for a fee.

Homestead Village offers transportation to local banks for our residences' convenience. At this time, there is no pharmacy on campus; however, several local pharmacies deliver to our campus, and our transportation team is also available to pick up prescriptions. Homestead Village also offers a notary, gift shop, and convenience grocery items in the café. A seamstress, massage therapist, and hair salon are also available.

You may dine your way in our several dining destinations, which offer a wide variety of fresh, healthy, choices — from farm-to-table to vegetarian to gluten-free. Homestead Village's culinary team also takes great pride in meeting our resident needs and delighting them with delicious creation in our Solis & Luna cafe, Mack's Coffee & Cream shop, and Stauffer Spring House Café. We offer take-out and delivery, and we always have our healthy choice menu. Residents can also now order take-out or delivery through our mobile UniGuest app!

All residents participate in a flexible “Dining Dollar” program, and special dietary needs are carefully accommodated. “Dining Dollars” can be used however you choose — for breakfast, lunch, dinner, eat-in, take-out, guest meals or even delivery at a nominal charge. Your “Dining Dollars” will roll over from month to month if you do not use all of your dollars in one month’s time, and can also be waived if a resident is traveling for an extended period.

Meals range from $6-8 for breakfast, $7-15 for lunch, and $10-$25 for dinner.

Residents can also host events in their own homes or in one of the community areas and leave the serving, cooking and cleanup to our dining services department (this is not included in the “Dining Dollars” program).

Yes!

Yes, there is an East Hempfield Township ordinance mandating that loud noises or music be quieted after 10 p.m.

UGI is the gas supplier (The Farmstead and The Mews use gas). PPL is the electric supplier (the cottages and villas use electric). Based on resident feedback, the cost of gas averages $30–90/month, and the cost of electric averages $30–90/month.

Yes, Homestead Village welcomes a maximum of 2 pets per household — with some restrictions. In apartment living, there is a size limit for small dogs only. Check with our marketing department for guidelines.

Homestead Village offers a 60% refund plan and a 0% refund plan — both have various advantages. The plan you choose may depend on your health, age, finances, and tolerance for risk. The main difference is that the 60% refund plan has a 30% higher entrance fee than the 0% refund plan.

Of note: Even the 0% plan offers some refund: Only 2% per month is deducted during the first 50 months you live at Homestead so that should you need to leave for any reason, the remaining amount will be refunded to you.

Type B means "Modified Fee for Service." Like a type C or fee-for-service community, we do have a standard entrance fee and monthly maintenance fee; however, we also offer 15 days of nursing care, per resident, per year included in the monthly fee. For example, if a resident went in for a hospital procedure and needed care afterwards, he or she could receive care in our Apostles Center for 15 days at no cost to him or her.

In short:

Type A = Similar to insurance policy, a Type A Contracts generally feature higher entrance fees and generally much higher monthly fees throughout residency, but then have a limited fee increase if nursing care services are needed.

Type B = Mostly fee for service, but some health care services are included. Generally a lesser entrance fee and monthly fee than Type A, because residents only pay for increased care services if they actually need or use the services. You are not pre-paying for services you may not use, although some healthcare is provided as part of your fees. Type C = Purely Fee for Service - you only pay for personal care or nursing services if you use them.

The down payment to reserve a campus home or apartment is10% of the entrance fee.

For the new Townstead Apartments, the reservation deposit is 15% of the entrance fee.

Once you reserve a home, you have three to four months (depending on the renovation schedule and timeline) to complete the final payment and move in. Most of our residents find that this is a perfect amount of time for a smooth transition. In some instances, Homestead Village may be able to work with you to arrange an extension.

Our literature states that a person who is on our waitlist at “ready status,” should be ready to accept an opportunity to move when one is presented. However, he or she does have two chances to decline the opportunity. If after two opportunities, a person continues to not be ready, we will not call him or her for a year. This does not change the person’s position on the list, though. People can also be on our wait list at “general status,” which indicates to us that they are not yet ready to receive phone calls or opportunities. They can be confident that they are on the list but will not be called until they upgrade to “ready status.”

Yes, as a Farmstead or Mews resident, even though the neighborhoods are slightly off main campus, you’ll become part of the Homestead Village family, enjoying its wealth of services, amenities, dining, and life enrichment programs, as well as a full continuum of care, if ever needed.

The fee covers property taxes, 24-hour security, interior and exterior maintenance, appliance repair and replacement, landscaping and lawn care, transportation to shopping, outings, and medical appointments, snow and trash removal, water and sewer, and use of the dining room, health club, pool, library, craft room, wood shop, lounges, and the salon.

You can choose from a range of charming, maintenance-free living spaces, including:

• Villa Court: Contemporary, bright two-bedroom, two-bath duplex and triplex villas
• The Mews: Villas with unique rooflines, two-car garages and 1,420 to 2,348 square feet of living space
• Apartments: Stylish homes convenient to services and amenities
• Cottages: Comfortable two-bedroom, two-bath cottages situated around the pickleball court
• The Farmstead: Our elegant new carriage home neighborhood adjacent to historic Lime Spring Farm

There are no transfer fees to transition from a campus home to an apartment. The only change is that your monthly fee will increase slightly because the apartment service fee includes extra services such as a larger Dining Dollar program amount, housekeeping, linen service, utilities, and more! There may be a renovation surcharge for internal transfers to renovated apartments.

Renovation of a campus home depends on the condition of the home and fixtures; but as a rule, paint and carpet are generally always replaced, as well as appliances. In many instances, a full renovation includes kitchen cabinets, countertops, bathroom vanities and tile, and even windows and doors. When new updates are installed, the incoming resident will be able to make his or her own selections.

Another great feature of moving to Homestead Village is that maintenance of all appliances and the structure of the home is included - so you'll never need to pay to replace a roof, furnace, hot water heater, or other appliance again!

Upgrades are available for appliances, flooring, cabinets, countertops, and lighting.

Homestead Village will maintain and replace all appliances that come with your home. If you purchase your own appliances, we may not be able to service them, so we don’t encourage this practice. You can choose standard appliances or upgrades such as stainless steel finishes, icemakers, French doors, and double ovens.

Homestead Village does allow some furnishing installations, such as closet upgrades or built-in shelving, but asks that you work through the facilities director to get the installation approved, obtain quotes, and have the work done. This helps us ensure the quality of the work and the safety of current and future residents. Window treatments may be installed at your expense by a company of your choice.

Homestead Village asks that residents carry a renter’s insurance policy to cover the cost of personal belongings.

All depositors are provided with samples of contract paperwork to review prior to the time they will need to sign it. Depositors are also provided with the community's financial disclosure statement. Homestead Village wants all depositors to be confident in Homestead Village's transparency and health as an organization.

Yes! Homestead Village has a personal care program that’s unique to the area: All of our apartments are licensed for personal care. Therefore, if you ever need additional assistance, we’ll simply send a staff person to your apartment to provide services, rather than making you move to another location. This is also a beneficial arrangement for couples because, when one spouse needs additional services, but the other does not, the couple can continue to live together in their apartment. We also offer home care services that can provide assistance in our other residences outside of the apartments. Services are available in three tiers.

Yes, at Homestead Village, nurses are available on-site 24 hours a day, and they can be reached by our emergency call button system. Our skilled care center also has an in-house medical director. However, residents of our residential neighborhoods can continue to see their primary care physician and specialists. Our location is also very convenient to the Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health campus, two major hospitals and numerous doctors’ offices and specialists. We provide our residents with a complimentary shuttle service to doctors’ appointments within a five-mile radius.

Homestead Village apartments are licensed as a Pa Personal Care Home and daily assistance may be obtained through Homestead Village’s Supportive Services (personal care) program at Resident's expense. All hands-on direct care must be provided through the supportive services program according to 55 Pa. Code Chapter 2600. Home Care services may provide non-medical assistance only under instances where supportive services is not required.

The Gelhard and Harvest Households provide secure, Personal Care Memory Support services in beautifully appointed private rooms with private bathrooms.

Skilled nursing care is provided on-site in the Apostles Center for Care, a fully accredited, Medicare- and Medicaid-approved nursing care center. Our Radcliffe and Fickes Households specialize in traditional long term care, and our Young House focuses on short term rehabilitation including physical, occupational, and speech therapy.

“Model” refers to the type and size of room available in our personal care and memory support residences at Gelhard House and Harvest House.

Yes, Homestead Village welcomes members of the greater community, as well as permanent residents, to our short-term rehab program, which provides advanced physical, occupational, and speech therapy, and other treatments to help guests recover as quickly as possible from injuries, illnesses, or operations. If you are in the hospital, be sure to tell your social worker or discharge planner to send a referral to Homestead Village if you wish to come to Homestead.

Yes, Homestead Village offers a wide range of home care services to assist people in maintaining independence in their homes in Lancaster, whether they’re recuperating from illness or surgery and need non-medical services, or whether long-term or respite services are needed. We provide these home care services both on campus and outside of campus.

Homestead Village has developed a THRIVE team which includes a nurse, social worker, chaplain, and other staff members who are dedicated to serving our residential living population. Fifteen days of skilled nursing care are also included per resident, per year.