Housing Choice for Older Adults: Supporting Community Conversations About Housing Policy
Principal Investigator: Nancy Berlinger
Co-Investigators: Jennifer Molinsky, Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, and Lauren Taylor, NYU Grossman School of Medicine and The Hastings Center
Funder: Greenwall Foundation
Start date: 2022
Research shows that most older Americans live on moderate incomes and that older adults in this vast “middle market” struggle to pay for both housing and care as they age. While most older adults hope to continue to live in the home they live in now, they need housing choices that are affordable, accessible, and a good fit. Increasing housing supply for the middle market is a local solution.
How should communities start the conversation about housing choice for older adults? How should age-friendly programs, housing advocates, local policymakers, and involved citizens anticipate and respond to differing perspectives on housing development that often reflect worries about change? How can community members with differing views find common ground in their shared understanding that housing matters?
This project applies a “housing lens,” developed through empirical research collaboration with the Housing an Aging Society program of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard, to these practical challenges. For more on this project, see this Greenwall Foundation Q&A with Nancy Berlinger
Coming soon: Open-access discussion tool and other resources, reflecting insights from researchers, advocates, and participants in local efforts to expand housing choice for older adults.
For more about The Hastings Center’s work on population aging, visit the Bioethics for Aging Societies webpage.