Housing for the Elderly

The challenge of providing the elderly population with affordable and/or low-cost housing has been a feature of public policy debate for many years. That is because of a significant demographic shift in the population, with more than 35 million persons in the US now over age 65 (AOA, 2002). Indeed, it has been projected that by 2050, the worldwide population will have aged so significantly that the number of persons over age 60 will have outnumbered the number younger than that. This is significant because historically, younger, working-age populations have assumed responsibility for the care of the elderly. That practice is embedded into the social-welfare policies of the US, with payroll taxes funding Social Security benefits. It is significant as well because of the health and welfare needs of the elderly and because of the highly variable distribution of resources throughout the population.

Health care, food, and shelter needs of the elderly are key issue fronts that have emerged in welfare discourse in recent years. Housing presents particular challenges because issues surrounding access to adequate shelter often overlap and converge with caregiving and sustenance issues as well. For example, the Congregate Housing Services Program sponsored by the Department of Housing and Urban Development provides meals and "other supportive services" to the frail elderly and to the disabled who reside in federally subsidized housing projects. It is described as "a project-based-rath

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bsidies are available to seniors and to persons of all ages who may have disabilities (HUD, 2003b). To qualify for these subsidies, at least one of the tenants must be at least 62 years old. Tenants must also meet other eligibility requirements. HUD's Section 202 program provides loans for construction, rehabilitation, and/or acquisition of structures intended to support housing for the very low-income frail and elderly, as well as rent subsidies for tenants of such projects (HUD, 2003b). Nonprofit entities that engage in construction and acquisition of such properties may obtain interest-free loans for that purpose. Trailer parks have historically been associated with lower-income people, and some mobile-home communities have significant populations of older people who have lived in mobile homes for years. Thus mobile homes can readily be perceived to offer lower-income seniors affordable independent housing. However, certain problematic issues have emerged with respect to such an option. As Guntermann explains (2002), the Fair Housing Act, which was Title VII of the 1968 Civil Rights Act, prohibits discrimination of any kind in regard to the sale, rental, financing and other features of housing based on race, color, national or

Category: Government - H