|
|
|
|
Housing and Seniors
|
Quick Links
|
By William L. Elder, Ph.D., Director, OSEDA Housing is a critical need for all families and affordable housing is especially important for senior households that often have more limited incomes than many younger families. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “The generally accepted definition of affordability is for a household to pay no more than 30 percent of its annual income on housing. Families who pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing are considered cost burdened and may have difficulty affording necessities such as food, clothing, transportation and medical care.1” Housing costs include mortgage or rent, taxes, insurance and utilities.Nearly 29 percent of Missouri households with a householder over age 65 pay more than 30% of their income for housing—over 138,000 households. The Missouri percentage compares favorably to the U.S. estimate of 35 percent. Information from the American Community Survey2 permits a description of the extent of housing expenses by type of household. In 2006 there were 2,305,021 households in Missouri. Nearly half a million of these (494,796) were “older households” with a householder over the age of 65. The extent to which households are housing cost burdened depends on many factors including age, income and tenure (whether housing is rented or owned, and if owned whether there is a mortgage). 
Renters are more cost burdened than owners. Nationally, among senior households that rented 61.2 percent were housing cost burdened in 2006 compared to 28.8 percent among home owners. In Missouri 58 percent of older renters were cost burdened while 22.5 percent of older home owners were housing cost burdened. Figure 1 shows the percent of households that were housing cost burdened in 2006 by age and type of tenure. Older households are proportionally more burdened than younger households by tenure. For example, 44.5 percent of senior householders that own their home with a mortgage, are housing cost burdened compared with 26.9% among similar younger households.
This income difference reflects the general reduced level of earnings among seniors highlighting why affordable housing is a concern for many of them. Figure 3 shows the percent housing cost burden by tenure and age for low income households. Senior householders who own their home, but continue to have a mortgage have the single highest level of housing cost burden (88.2%). Figure 4 shows the number of housing cost burdened households among the low income households. Among those spending more than 30 percent of household income on housing are 27,016 senior home owners with a mortgage, 39,388 senior home owners without a mortgage and 42,461seniors householders who are renters. 
Older homes require higher maintenance and repair costs than younger homes and often present challenges for older householders, especially those with disabilities. In Missouri in 2006, 36 percent of householders over age 65 live in houses constructed prior to 1960 compared with 31percent of younger householders. Information about housing costs and the characteristics of householders will becoming increasing accessible with the release by the U.S. Census of more detailed American Community Survey data beginning in 2008. Currently ACS data is available for only a limited number of geographic units and regions within the state. Next year a more complete description will be possible of the geographic diversity in housing patterns among Missouri seniors.
References
|
|
|
| Missouri Senior Report is published by the State of Missouri’s Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), MU’s Office of Social and Economic Data Analysis (OSEDA) and University of Missouri Extension. |
|
|
|
Questions/Comments regarding this page or this web site are strongly encouraged and can be sent to
|
However, the number of cost burdened households is greater among younger households (see Figure 2) because seniors are only about 21 percent of all households. Also, seniors are more likely to be owners (80%) than younger householders (68%) and Senior households are much more likely to own their homes without a mortgage remaining (58%) than younger households (14%).