Bringing Together Affordable Housing and Long Term Care

The pressures the aging of the U.S. population will place on health and long term care systems over the next 30 years have received much attention. Until recently, however, less attention has been given to understanding the specific housing needs of seniors over this period and the relationship between seniors' housing needs and their long term care needs. Venturing into long term care issues, the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee appointed a commission to study the situation.

The Lewin Group participated as part of a team providing the Commission on Affordable Housing and Health Facility Needs of Seniors in the 21st Century (the "Seniors Commission") with data on the housing, socioeconomic, and disability characteristics of the country's seniors, including disability projections to 2020. In June 2002, the Commission submitted its testimony, A Quiet Crisis in America, to Congress.

Following are highlights from The Lewin Group's analysis for the Commission, which relied primarily on data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP):

• In 1997, 5.8 million, or 18%, of non-institutionalized people age 65 and older required assistance with their everyday activities, and about 1.2 million (3.7%) were severely impaired, needing help with three or more activities of daily living (ADLs).
• The vast majority of non-institutionalized seniors live in owner-occupied dwellings: 26.2 million, or 82%.
• Older, unassisted renters were more likely than older homeowners to report having physical limitations.
• Overall, about 33% of rent-assisted senior tenants required assistance with at least one instrumental activity of daily living (IADL) or ADL. More than 5% had a level of disability (i.e., three or more ADLs) characteristic of the occupants of assisted-living facilities or nursing homes.
• Even if current rates of disability continue to decline, the number of seniors with disabilities will still increase from 6.2 million in 2000 to 7.9 million in 2020. The rise in seniors with disabilities will result in an increase in the number receiving supportive services.

View selected detailed tables of the SIPP by age group of householder, income group, living arrangement, and housing tenure. Click here to view the full report, A Quiet Crisis in America. For more information on this project, contact Lisa Alecxih.