Kia Kokalitcheva Nov
16, 2019
Housing
affordability is becoming a central obstacle to Americans’ ability to retire,
especially for those living on fixed and limited incomes.
The big picture: The high cost
of housing is a growing problem for older Americans in supply-constrained and
wealth-divided cities, and for developers of senior housing facing a growing
preference for “aging in place.”
Driving the
news: While developers saw the looming wave of retiring Baby Boomers
as a gold mine, many are instead finding the growing trend of seniors remaining
in their homes is leaving them with empty buildings, according to the Wall Street
Journal.
"In a city
like San Francisco where you can’t afford to retire, many of our members can’t
afford to leave — they're in rent-controlled apartments," says Jacqueline
Jones, whose nonprofit, NEXT Village, helps seniors stay in their homes.
- There’s a shortage of affordable
housing for seniors.
- Deanna, a 65-year-old retired social
worker in San Jose, tells Axios she's been on one waitlist for five years
and waited a year for her current apartment.
By the numbers: Next year,
the average social security monthly
payment will be $1,503.
- The average studio in
San Jose was $2,017 in
the second quarter of 2019.
- A studio at Atria Senior Living in Foster
City, Calif. costs $5,800 per month, per its website.
What’s next: The number of
older renters earning 50% or less of their area’s median income is projected to
grow to 7.6 million, according to a 2016 report from the Joint
Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.
- Of the total projected 27.2 million
low-income older households, 10.6 million (nearly 40%) will be 80 and
over.
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