Column: Heading off a
housing crisis for U.S. seniors
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[December 21, 2016]
By Mark Miller
CHICAGO
(Reuters) - Debates about improving America’s infrastructure typically
focus on projects like bridges, roads, railroads and power grids. But
with President-Elect Donald Trump calling for $1 trillion in
infrastructure spending over the next 10 years, here is an item that
should be added to that list: affordable housing for seniors.
By 2035, one of every three U.S. households will be headed by someone
aged 65 or older, according to a new study by the Harvard Joint Center
for Housing Studies (JCHS) - an increase of a whopping 66 percent to 50
million households. Households headed by people aged 80 and older will
increase at the fastest rate - more than doubling to 16 million.
We are not ready for this dramatic transformation - not even close, the
Harvard researchers conclude.
Wealthier people will have the means to adapt their housing to fit their
needs - although signs suggest few are laying the groundwork for that.
Less than 5 percent of homes have elements such as zero-step home
entrances, single-floor living and wide halls and doorways that can
accommodate wheelchairs, according to JCHS.
But the biggest problem will be a bulging population of low-income
seniors.

The number of seniors earning less than 80 percent of their area median
income will nearly double by 2035, to 27 million, according to the
report. These households will face enormous challenges paying for
housing and supportive services, with housing expenses sapping resources
bad needed for food and healthcare.
JCHS defines any housing cost higher than 30 percent of income as a
“burden,” and the number of burdened households will rise sharply over
the coming two decades: by 2035, some 8.6 million people will be paying
more than half their income for housing.
“Our shifting demographic outlook really brings with it a lot of housing
needs that we haven’t figured out how to fill,” said Jennifer Molinsky,
a senior research associate at JCHS and the report’s lead author.
DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS
Along with affordability, there will be a huge need for housing that is
physically accessible as the number of older Americans with disabilities
and dementia soars. Social isolation is another concern, especially as
baby boomers move into their eighties and beyond. The country’s over-80
population is forecast to double by 2035 to 24 million; 70 percent of
that growth will take place after the year 2025.
The demographic trends driving these numbers have been evident for
decades. But a problem that once seemed far off in the future is now on
our doorstep, argues Linda Couch, director of housing policy and
priorities at Leading Age, an association representing 6,000 aging
services agencies. “We’re at a moment where we have to decide how we are
going to address the housing needs of seniors,” she said.
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A sign advertising a home for sale at a reduced price is shown in
Pacifica, California December 31, 2008. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith

The federal government provides rental assistance to low-income seniors
through public housing, housing choice vouchers and subsidized
affordable housing, but only a third of eligible seniors receive help
due to funding problems. “The waiting lists are very long,” Couch said.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has a program
- known as Section 202 - that funds development of rental housing for
very low-income elderly households, but funding has been falling since
2008, and Congress has not appropriated any new funding for housing unit
construction under the program since fiscal year 2011.
MAJOR INVESTMENT
The JCHS report recommends increasing the amount of accessible housing
units for disabled seniors, and creating programs to help older owners
shoulder housing cost burdens, such as property taxes and utility bills.
It also calls for increased subsidies to older renters, and strengthened
ties between housing and delivery of community-based healthcare
services.
Leading Age is calling for a major housing investment - perhaps the
advocates should call it infrastructure - of $600 million in fiscal
2018. A new HUD-administered housing fund would be the initial source of
dollars that could leverage tax credits and state and local resources to
help fund nonprofit development for very-low income seniors.
Leading Age also advocates expansion of the existing Low-Income Housing
Tax Credit, which provides dollar-for-dollar tax credits for investments
in affordable housing. The group also is pushing for creation of a
“special purpose voucher” that would provide rental assistance to
low-income seniors.

Good ideas, all - and they should be put in motion now, before the
senior housing crisis is in full bloom. Says Couch: “The challenges of
an aging population are upon us - no longer in the future. How we
address these needs will be a true test of our moral character.”
(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for
Reuters.)
(Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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