Our Housing is Not Ready for Old Boomers

It's a problem we can readily solve if we choose to

Welcome back to The New Urban Order — where urbanists explore the future of cities. This piece is part of an ongoing, occasional series about AI in cities.

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A report released last week from the Census Bureau showed that the majority of housing (60 percent) does not have basic, aging-ready features such as a step-free entryway and a bedroom and full bathroom on the first floor. 

In some areas of the country, like New England, which has some of the country’s oldest housing stock, the percentage of housing with basic aging-readiness is just 19.6 percent. While 11 percent of all households report at least one difficulty in using their homes — trouble entering the home, getting to the bathroom, or using the kitchen, for example — that number more than doubles to 25 percent when the residents are 85 or older. Not surprisingly, the people who reported most difficulties with their houses were more likely to have an income near or below the poverty level and rent rather than own.

These difficulties at home have not only personal consequences but financial ones for the entire country. One older adult suffers a fall every second of every day, resulting not only in injuries, but medical expenses borne by Medicare and Medicaid. Additionally, while there is a chicken and egg aspect to this statistic, medical expenses for someone in a nursing home are more than five times as much as those for someone living at home.

This is one of those problems that is only going to grow in importance. In 2020, one in six people were aged 65 or older. By 2030, one in five Americans will be 65 or older (including all of the Baby Boomers), and adults will outnumber children for the first time. By 2040, the number of people over 85 will double from 7 million in 2020 to 15 million. By 2060, one in four Americans will be over 65.

As I’ve written about before, the West is facing some dramatic demographic shifts in the coming decades and our built environment is largely unprepared for them. One big way to address the intertwined concerns of aging, healthcare access and expense, and population decline is to build housing that is better suited to today’s needs rather than ideals of yesteryear. 

But that doesn’t mean we should just build more assisted living housing. Assisted living costs an average of $4,500 per month for a private bedroom. Anyone who has investigated assisted living for themself or a loved one knows this model is unsustainable. 

It’s not just expense that should make us wary of building more assisted living. Age segregated communities are unappealing: more than three-quarters of adults aged 50 or older want to remain in their homes as they age. How can the country better accommodate the need for adults to remain in their preferred neighborhoods with better housing options? 

After the paywall, I’ll discuss:

• How we need to transition funding sources, such as home repair programs, toward aging in place

• Why Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are a core part of AARP’s housing strategy

• Solutions from other countries that incentivize multigenerational living to support seniors