Supportive Housing: Critical to Meeting the Needs of an Aging Population

Supportive housing combines housing with health and other services in a supportive social community to help enable older adults and persons with disabilities maintain their independence. The demand for supportive housing options will increase as the baby boom population ages, life expectancies lengthen, and more older adults need health care and other supports to help them age in their communities. At the same time, health care costs continue to rise faster than the rate of inflation and there is a need for options to provide care more efficiently. For example, between 2004 and 2018, the average cost of care in a private nursing room increased 54 percent; the cost of assisted living rose 67 percent over that same period. While new models of combining housing and services are promising, the availability of supportive housing options for older adults generally is not sufficient to meet demand.