Housing Cost Burdens and Shared Households Among Older Adults

Abstract: Older adults face high rates of housing cost burden, and 22% of older adults live in shared households (including any adult besides the householder and householder’s romantic partner). We examine whether shared households reduce and/or exacerbate housing affordability challenges for economically vulnerable older adults, asking: 1) What share of hosts (who share their housing with others) and guests (who live in someone else’s home) would be cost burdened if not in shared households? 2) What are the characteristics of older adults who provide or receive housing through shared households? 3) For whom do older adults provide a housing safety net and from whom do they receive one? Findings will reveal how the private housing safety net impacts older adults’ economic security and racial/ethnic and gender disparities. They will also identify characteristics of OASDI and SSI beneficiaries who provide or receive housing support, along with characteristics of their non-beneficiary household members.