Staying Fit
Looking toward the future, many San Antonio residents age 50-plus are anxious about housing security for themselves and the city at large.
©iStock.com/2013 David Sucsy
Among the top takeaways:
- Home maintenancea is the single most-commonly named housing challenge they face as they age.
- In addition, many are struggling with affordability today and worry this will become more difficult in the future.
- One in five are severely burdened by the cost of housing including rent or mortgage, taxes, insurance and home energy costs, meaning housing costs are 50% or more of their total monthly income. Among Hispanic 50-plus, one in four are severely cost burdened by housing.
- A majority (55% of total, 65% of Hispanic) say housing affordability is a problem in San Antonio. Four in ten expect it to get worse by 2020.
- 23% of all 50-plus San Antonians and 33% of Hispanics are extremely or very concerned that they will be forced to leave their home or community because they can no longer afford it.
- While half of residents 50-plus agree the benefits of redevelopment outweigh the negative side effects, a larger majority recognizes burdens on homeowners in the form of property taxes and threatened housing security.
- Home energy costs are a significant source of cost burden for older residents.
- More than one-third (35% of total, 37% of Hispanic) have reduced their home energy usage because they were concerned about being able to afford their monthly housing expense.
- 29% of all 50-plus and 39% of Hispanics are extremely or very concerned about being able to pay for their home utility costs in the future.
- Taxes, traffic and neighborhood safety also top the list of community concerns.
Telephone interviews for this study were conducted with a representative sample of San Antonio residents age 50+ from November 30 through December 20, 2015. A total of 801 interviews were completed: 600 among a representative sample of all residents age 50-plus and an oversample of Hispanic residents which raised the total number of interviews among Hispanics to 494 so that results could be analyzed separately. Interviewing was conducted in English and Spanish. For more information about this report, contact Angela Houghton at AHoughton@aarp.org.
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