Older Americans who seek out younger roommates to stay on top of high housing costs is not a new concept, but there is evidence to suggest that the trend is growing more popular. This is according to a recent podcast episode hosted by Boston-based NPR affiliate WBUR.
Jennifer Molinsky, director of the Housing an Aging Society Program at Harvard University‘s Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS), described how the idea of baby boomers seeking out roommates could be gaining favor among an older populace that is challenged to make ends meet with housing while living on a fixed income.
“Among older adults, it’s just under a million people are living with unrelated other folks and without any other family,” Molinsky said. “And that’s under 2% of the older adult population. About half of those are people living with other older adults, and about 38% are older adults who are living with younger people, and the rest are some more complicated relationships.”
But the data suggests growth in these living arrangements, she explained.
“The numbers have grown,” Molinsky said. “That’s doubled since 2006 as the older population has grown, and it’s edging up in the percentile as well. […] I think there’s a number of reasons. Housing costs are rising all across the age [and] income spectrums, frankly, moving up into middle-income folks having a harder time paying for housing. The older population is growing. We’ve got the leading edge of the baby boomers on the cusp of turning 80.”
On top of that, the U.S. population is growing older more quickly. The 80-and-over population is expected to double over the next 20 years, Molinsky said, and with that growth also comes the recognition of certain realities that seniors face.
“We’re recognizing both the dangers of social isolation and also the need for older adults — especially when they reach their late seventies, eighties and beyond — to have some more help around the house. So I think all these reasons are combining to make this model particularly attractive.”
Of the 56 million older U.S. adults, roughly 15 million live alone, Molinsky said. Many of these people are also mismatched to their homes, meaning that the homes are far larger than they need or they are unable to properly maintain them.
“Over 11 million of those households have homes that are two or more bedrooms,” she said. “So there’s a great deal of potential. And of course, we don’t know the uses to which those bedrooms are being put, guest rooms and all that. But I think it just shows that there’s a big potential. Most older adults do live in single family homes. Most single family homes have more than one bedroom.”
The reverse mortgage industry also plays a part in this trend. In 2018, Finance of America (FOA) entered into a partnership with senior homesharing platform Silvernest, which occurred in conjunction with a rebranding initiative to address housing and cohabitation needs for seniors.
“This is the market opportunity: Helping older homeowners use their homes’ ‘superpower’ to achieve their financial goals, whether by tapping home equity via AAG or [FOA], securing the Finance of America Home Improvement Loan or generating additional income by home sharing with Silvernest,” FOA CEO Graham Fleming said during a 2023 company earnings call.
