A study on housing older adults reveals some positive trends, and gives reason for worry.
In a recent Facebook post, I tried to cast a positive spin on a recent hike that became a bit longer than planned after a missed turn.
Ok, so my husband and I ended up hiking 19.5 miles, instead of the planned 16, after going down and back up an extra mountain. But it was beautiful, and we made it out just as it turned dark!
A good friend who saw my post joked that she never saw me as a “glass-half-full” kind of gal. My reaction to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies’ recently released report, Housing America’s Older Adults 2019, may prove her point.
SEEING SOME TROUBLING POINTS IN THE REPORT
While the Harvard study revealed a few positive trends, it left me worried about the housing picture for many older adults, particularly those with low incomes.
Some of the troubling points include:
- While the median income of retirement-age households has increased overall, the gains have gone disproportionately to higher income households. Median income among older adults with the lowest earnings has actually dropped. Pre-retirement households of 50- to 64-year-olds have seen no change in median income overall. Higher income households in this group also experienced a disproportionate increase in median income compared to earners with lower incomes.
- A growing share of older homeowners are carrying mortgage debt into retirement and the amount of this debt has increased. Higher levels of older adult households and pre-retirement households are also carrying credit card and other consumer debt and at increased amounts.
- About one-third of households age 65 plus are housing-cost burdened, meaning they pay more than 30% of their incomes for housing. Half of this group pays over 50%. Although a disproportionate share of renters is cost-burdened, a large number of older adult homeowners are as well. In 2017, the number of older adult households that are cost-burdened reached an all-time high.
- Almost 80% of older adults are homeowners living in single-family homes. A majority of these homes are 40 years old and many having maintenance needs. Few of the homes have accessibility features that may be important as homeowners’ abilities change. These repairs and adaptations are likely to be financially unattainable for cost-burdened homeowners at the very least.
- Older adult homeowners and renters tend to live in low-density areas. This can make it more difficult to access services and resources as health and functional abilities change. In addition, these older adults can become isolated in their homes, which affects physical and mental health.
SEEING TROUBLE ON THE GROUND
I saw how some of these bullet points are playing out on the ground last week when I visited LeadingAge member Serving Senior’s Senior Wellness Center in downtown San Diego.
Some of the older adults using the center are homeless. At night, staff told me, several center clients sleep up against the building because they feel safer there than around the large homeless shelter. Many of these older adults had recently become homeless because they lost their home due to some form of financial precariousness, center staff reported. The facts in the Harvard study tell me we are in danger of seeing a lot more of this.
SEEING A NEED FOR MULTI-PRONGED SOLUTIONS
The solutions to creating housing stability and safety for older adults will need to be multi-pronged. Obviously, we need to increase affordable rental opportunities for older adults. Currently, only one-third of older adults who are eligible for rental assistance receive it. LeadingAge is pressing Congress to expand the supply of affordable housing for older adults, and states and localities should be looking at how they can do their part as well.
Given that the large majority of older adults are homeowners, policy makers at all levels need to be planning for how they can assist homeowners who have lower incomes.
Some homes may need repairs or accessibility adaptations to support older adults and help them remain safely at home. Several localities and nonprofit organizations are offering small-scale programs to help older adults with lower incomes make these upgrades.
But some homes may not be the most appropriate places for older adults to age. Localities should be thinking about how they might facilitate initiatives that would help provide housing options for older adults who may wish to relocate and/or could benefit from a more appropriate housing setting.
For example, localities could examine zoning practices that allow for a range of housing options in neighborhoods, including smaller scale homes, alternative dwelling units, and rental units. These zoning changes could help older adult homeowners move to more appropriate housing settings while remaining in neighborhoods where their friends and support networks are.
Communities might also consider how they might support older homeowners who have an interest in relocating but are having difficulties selling their homes.
SEEING REASONS TO HOPE
These solutions may not come easy, but anything is possible if we pull together and work hard enough. After all, I got back up that mountain and out of the woods before dark.
Maybe I am a glass-half-full kind of gal!
Alisha Sanders is director of housing and services policy research in the Washington, DC office of the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston. Her work focuses on identifying, evaluating, and advancing strategies and policies that link affordable housing settings with health and supportive services.