Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies recently released a report entitled Housing America’s Older Adults, which highlighted several issues:
- High housing costs resulted in older adults to skimp on other necessities, including food.
- Most housing does not include basic accessibility features, making it harder for older adults to age comfortably at home.
- When older adults cannot (or choose not to) drive, the lack of transportation options often results in social isolation.
- Connections between housing and health care are weak. These weak connections can result in premature admissions to nursing homes.
In addition to documenting various challenges, the report summarizes policy solutions, including lots of great examples. Suggestions range from better planning for pedestrians, better mass transit access, tax incentives to encourage universal design, and planning and coordination for health care service delivery. Of particular interest to the readers of this Blog, there are a number of good suggestions as to how to better integrate housing and health care support for lower-income seniors.