In the Media

Nearly 70% of older adults will need long-term care services, according to Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies.

Even on the residential side, conditions have been far from the norm. Americans spent record amounts of money—$567 billion in 2022 alone, per Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies— renovating their houses. Paired with the increased interest in building more rental and accessory dwelling units, the still-tight housing market has dampened demand for new residential designs and created an affordability crisis among consumers, incentivizing more design-oriented solutions to drive affordability.

As its population ages, the United States is ill-prepared to adequately house and care for the growing number of older people, concludes a new report being released Thursday by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

It used to be that by the time most people reached 80, their house was paid off. In 1989, just 3% of homeowners over 80 still had a mortgage. Today? It’s nearly a third. “And the balance on those mortgages is much higher, even when you adjust for inflation,” said Jennifer Molinsky at Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

A study released Thursday by Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies found a 423 percent increase in median mortgage debt for homeowners aged 65 to 79. It marks a shift in the retirement landscape where a debt-free golden age is no longer a guarantee.

Thursday's report from Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies found an all-time high of adults age 65 and older are cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing − either a mortgage or rent.

A record number of seniors struggle with housing costs. Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies says it's going to get worse as the baby boomer generation starts to turn 80 in a few years.

A newly released report from Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies sounds a loud warning about what's ahead as the country ages rapidly, and how unprepared the U.S. is as boomers start to turn 80 within the next decade.

“Our disaster safety net in this country has always prioritized property,” said Carlos Martín, project director at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. “We assess what you’re due in the safety net program based on damages to your property.”

“The adequacy issue takes a backseat to the affordability issue in most jurisdictions in this country,” said Carlos Martín, project director of the Remodeling Futures Program at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. “Housing in this nation is like humans entering their mid-life crisis.”