The Future of Aging and Longevity - Flipbook - Page 36
Housing That Meets
the Moment:
Designing for
Longer Lives
and Stronger
Communi琀椀es
Jennifer Molinsky, PhD
Bob Kramer
Director, Housing an Aging
Society Program, Harvard
University Joint Center for
Housing Studies
Co-Founder and Strategic
Advisor, Na琀椀onal Investment
Center for Seniors Housing
and Care (NIC); Founder,
Nexus Insights
he scale of America’s senior housing
crisis has become unmistakable over
the past decade. Older adults are
squeezed by rising costs, inaccessible homes, and
weak connec琀椀ons to transporta琀椀on, services, and
social supports.
Yet when asked where they would like to live in
later years, most say they would like to remain right
where they are, or “age in place.”
It seems everyone from the senior housing
leaders to aging advocates to policymakers and
poli琀椀cians are no琀椀cing this preference. But few
seem to be no琀椀cing that aging in place is quietly
failing us—not just the 75-year-old couple and
85-year-old solo ager, but the 25-year-olds trying
to a昀昀ord their 昀椀rst rental and the 35-year-old
couple seeking to buy their 昀椀rst home.
And fewer s琀椀ll realize that this focus on aging
in place poses a real threat to the crea琀椀on of the
housing op琀椀ons for all ages that our country will
need in the next decade and beyond.
It’s not hard to understand why older adults
want to remain in housing that is objec琀椀vely not
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well-suited for them as their needs evolve with
age. Many older people love their homes and the
memories they have made in them. Moving can be
grueling. And aging in place also conjures the idea
of privacy and control that many fear they would
lose in other se琀�ngs.
Given the above, a limited budget, and a
paucity of choices, aging in place can feel like the
only op琀椀on for many people. Other older adults,
meanwhile, consider alterna琀椀ves but have no
way of projec琀椀ng how their needs for care, social
interac琀椀on, and 昀椀nancial security will change. By
remaining in a long琀椀me home, they’ve postponed
more than planned.
Moreover, priori琀椀zing aging in place diverts us
from crea琀椀ng be琀琀er housing for all. Our housing
and the current regulatory framework were built
for a di昀昀erent era, when the dominant model was
a nuclear family in a detached single-family home,
not for a 琀椀me when the number of people over
age 65 will soon exceed those under 18. Today’s
households are far more varied: single adults, childfree couples, mul琀椀genera琀椀onal families, and older
MIL K EN I N S T I T U T E | T H E FU T U RE O F AGI N G A N D LO N GEV I TY
