Ensuring Adequate Housing for Older Adults

As people age, their need for safe and affordable housing grows more critical. Yet today,approximately 13 million low-income 50+ households in America cannot afford their housing costs and/or live in inadequate housing. Many are paying over 30 percent of their household income to maintain housing that barely meets their physical needs. Many find themselves forced to choose between paying their mortgage or rent and buying groceries or medicine.

Their high housing costs also make it impossible to perform basic maintenance and add needed modifications like railings or ramps, making things more unsafe as they — and their homes — age. Many are also victimized by predatory lenders, who seek them out, rob them of their home equity and bury them with debt they cannot afford.

In the Spotlight

• Help Available for Foreclosure Victims, but Beware Scams
• Advocates: More Gay-Friendly Senior Housing Needed
• Rise in Homebuilding Suggests Industry Turnaround
• Aging in Place: A State Survey of Livability Policies and Practices
• Housing for Older Adults: The Impacts of the Recession
• More Older Americans Renting