Strategies to Meet the Housing Needs of Older Adults

Many adults, as they age and their abilities change, find that shortcomings in their homes and communities can unnecessarily limit where they are able to live. Some of these limitations are related to features of the housing stock itself, while others are rooted in community characteristics that do not appropriately accommodate an aging population. This report provides an overview of these challenges and explores some policy recommendations for overcoming them.

This report covers the following topic areas: accessible, safe, and affordable housing, access to social services and transportation, and housing models that help to allow aging in place.

AARP Public Policy Institute and the Center for Housing Policy have developed a user-guided toolkit on HousingPolicy.org to address housing issues that affect older adults and several fact sheets to accompany this Insight on the Issues. 

The toolkit can be found here.

The associated fact sheets are:

• Adult Foster Care
• Cohousing for Older Adults
• Connecting Existing Homes with Social Services
  
• Expanding Implementation of Universal Design and Visitability Features in the Housing Stock
• Home Modifications to Promote Independent Living
• Housing Policy Solutions to Support Aging in Place
• Linking Transportation and Housing Solutions for Older Adults
• Supportive Housing
• Weatherization
• The Village - A Growing Option for Aging in Place