Harvard?s latest senior housing report highlights a lack of diverse options as nation?s population ages The U.S. housing market may appear to be shaped by the young, but with more than half of the nation?s households headed by someone 50 years of age or older, it?s time more focus is given to the nation?s 65 million older households.
Our graying nation desperately needs to diversify and develop housing for older renters and owners, according to Housing Americas Older Adults, a new report from The Harvard Joint Center on Housing Studies (JCHS). Demographics alone suggest the so-called silver tsunami of older Americans is just starting to crest; while the growth in households in their 50s and 60s will actually slow down in coming years due to a speed bump in birth rates a few decades ago, the number of households in their 70s, 80s, and 90s will soar. ?Between 2010 and 2040, the nation?s 65-plus population will grow by roughly 90 percent,? says Hamilton Lombard, a demographics researcher for the University of Virginia. ?In some areas of the country, most of the population growth will come from retirees.?
The nation?s housing stock just isn?t ready.
?There?s an absence of options,? says Jennifer Molinsky, a senior research associate at the JCHS and lead author of the report. ?It?s not just a lack of support for subsidized housing. I?m worried we won?t have the kind of housing and services for middle-income folks, as well.?
The number of U.S. households age 80 or o...