Harvard Study Reveals Urgent Housing Challenges for America's Older Adults

The U.S. is not ready to provide housing and care for an aging population. That’s the conclusion of the Housing America’s Older Adults 2023 report, recently released by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

From 2012 to 2022, the population of adults at least 65 years old grew 34%, from 43 million to 58 million. Homelessness is on the rise among older adults, as there is an inadequate supply of housing that meets their needs in addition to increased housing and care costs.

More Older Adults

Older adults make up an increasingly large share of America’s population, as baby boomers begin to age into their 80s. As the older population has grown, the share of households headed by older adults has increased as well. Between 2012 and 2022, the share of households headed by older adults increased from 22% to 27%. The Center projects that the number of households headed by someone 80 years or older will more than double between 2021 and 2040.

Dual Burdens of Housing and care

A growing number of households are already overburdened by housing costs. Housing cost burdens makes it more difficult for older adults to meet other basic needs, like food and healthcare. Plus, the study finds that older households with very low incomes will become more common because income inequality is growing and baby boomers are moving into fixed or falling incomes.

The demand for care increases as someone ages, and because housing costs are already unaffordable to many older households, even more will struggle to shoulder the burden of both housing and care. The cost of care, like in-home assistance or assisted living facilities, are already out of reach for many older adults. Those who cannot afford care might have no choice but to forgo the needed assistance, which leads to worse health outcomes.

Inadequate Housing

More than any other age group, older adults are most likely to report challenges entering, navigating, and using their homes. According to data from the American Housing Survey in 2011, the last year data was available, less than 4% of homes offered the three foundational features of accessible housing — single-floor living, no-step entries, and wide hallways and doorways. As of 2019, only 47% of adults aged 65-79 and 54% aged over 80 live in homes with basic single-floor living and no-step entry.

Accessibility features promote an older adult’s independence, sense of autonomy, and opportunity to age in place, and they help prevent injury to both the homeowners and their caregivers.

Meeting Their Needs

In addition to not being able to afford moving to a different home or assisted living facility, older adults often choose to stay put because they “feel connected to their current homes and communities, enjoy proximity to friends and family, want to avoid the associated costs and stressors of moving, or are unable to find alternative housing that is both suitable and affordable.”

To ensure the health and safety of those who wish to remain in their homes as they age, existing homes will need critical repairs and accessibility modifications, particularly because older adults’ homes are often older and require more maintenance.

A noted partner of United Way of Greater Charlotte’s A Home for All strategy to address homelessness, we reduce the number of unhoused and cost-burdened older adults in the Greater Charlotte area by providing critical home repairs and accessibility modifications at no cost to older adults on fixed, low incomes who cannot afford to maintain their home through each one of our programs.

Critical Home Repairs

Targeted at correcting safety and health hazards such as leaking roofs, lack of heat, plumbing, and electrical issues, and critical accessibility needs, we address major repair issues for low-income homeowners. Through our Safe & Healthy Housing model, we prioritize repairs that correct 25 proven safety and health hazards common in older homes, such as falls, fires, moisture and mold, asthma and allergies and toxic exposures such as carbon monoxide.

A safe and healthy home is clean, dry, pest-free, safe, thermally controlled, ventilated, maintained, and contaminant-free.

Accessibility Modifications

By providing accessibility modifications that meet the needs of aging homeowners, we improve accessibility, reduce falls, increase independence, and facilitate aging in place. A modified home helps older adults maintain physical safety, mental health, independence, and dignity.

Common repairs include installing grab bars, wheelchair ramps, fire prevention technology, elevated toilets, and easy-access showers, among other needs.

Addressing Disparities

Among older adults, disparities due to the systemic bias against people of color that has resulted in lower incomes, less access to healthcare and quality housing, and environmental racism that have compounded as they aged affect the ability of homeowners of color to meet the dual burdens of housing and care costs.

Preventing displacement and preserving affordable homeownership, our programs directly aim to address the impact of current and historical policies, practices, and behaviors that create housing inequalities for communities of color, challenges faced by older adults on fixed incomes, lack of safe housing for veterans, limited access to services in rural communities, and housing issues affecting women.

Providing critical repairs and accessibility modifications at no cost allows a homeowner to pass it down to children and grandchildren, which becomes an important source of multigenerational wealth.

Get Involved

Apply for Services

Are you interested in receiving repair and modification services at no cost from Rebuilding Together of Greater Charlotte? Applications are currently closed but will reopen March 1. Complete an application interest form, so we will follow up with you when applications open.

Donate

Every donation makes a difference! The average cost of one of our repair and modification projects is $25,000. Every donation provides safe and healthy homes to neighbors in need in the Greater Charlotte area by allowing us to offer our services at no cost to homeowners on fixed incomes.

Volunteer

Join our vision of a safe and healthy home and community for everyone in the Greater Charlotte area by volunteering with us today! Under the guidance of our trained construction team, you’ll also develop home maintenance and repair skills you can use.

Partner With Us

We rely on corporate and community partners to support our vision with both volunteer time and a financial contribution. We offers many opportunities for sponsors to be part of our mission to provide safe and healthy housing. These opportunities come with employee engagement, digital marketing, and print branding benefits.