April 2008
In this Issue
Are Subdivision Requirements Excessive?
Involving Consumers in Home Energy Management
What Do Grandfamilies Need?
Fostering Local Leadership
In the next issue of ResearchWorks
What Do Grandfamilies Need?
"Grandfamilies" are households headed by grandparents or other relatives who stand in for parents to raise children. According to the last census, grandparents are raising six percent of the nation's children, but the total number of grandfamilies is uncertain. Observers attribute this family structure to a number of social conditions, including parental drug abuse, AIDS, divorce, teen pregnancy, and child abuse. Although their circumstances vary widely, grandfamilies often face legal, health, and financial challenges that affect their housing needs.
Housing Needs
Housing poses the greatest difficulty for many grandfamily households, who must accommodate the needs of both elderly and minor members. Although at least one-fourth of these households live in homes too small to accommodate them, they often cannot afford a larger space. Assisted housing for seniors typically is not suited for children. In addition, grandfamilies headed by those who are not elderly, are not low-income earners, or do not have a legal relationship with the children, may not qualify for housing assistance.
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research and the U.S. Census Bureau have worked together to learn more about the neediest of these households and their housing requirements. This collaborative effort is reported in Intergenerational Housing Needs and HUD Program Options: Report to Congress. The work focuses on 2.7 million households headed by grandparents and other relatives. Scattered throughout the 50 states and the District of Columbia, many of these families live in their own homes or have too much income to be eligible for housing assistance. The most severe housing challenges within this segment are among households with priority housing needs, who pay 50 percent or more of their income for housing and/or have inadequate housing with severe plumbing, heating, electrical, upkeep, or hallway problems.
What Can Be Done?
Existing housing programs were not designed with grandfamilies in mind, a condition that sometimes deprives these households of the resources they need to ensure healthy home environments where children can thrive. The findings about grandfamilies with priority housing needs raise policy questions concerning special targeting for these family units, as well as the appropriate role of local and federal governments in assisting them. The report recommends that the federal government offer these households additional Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, amend Section 202 and 811 programs to address the needs of grandfamilies, and encourage state
and local governments to use HOME and Community Development Block Grant funds to develop housing designed for eligible grandfamilies. In the LEGACY Act of 2003, HUD was directed to train personnel in how existing affordable housing programs can serve these families. The Department was also to implement a demonstration program for providing supportive housing to intergenerational families. Funding appropriations for demonstration research, however, have been limited.
Meanwhile, some multifamily developers are constructing model projects that combat the housing problems grandfamilies face. These grandfamily projects have unique features that separate them from typical multifamily housing developments. The two projects described below provide units that are accessible, offer amenities tailored to elderly residents, and are large enough to accommodate a growing family. The projects also integrate supportive services tailored to multigenerational family needs.
In 1998, the GrandFamilies House — the first housing program in the nation designed for grandparent-headed households — opened in Boston. It features 26 apartments, each with 2 to 4 bedrooms, that address the needs of both seniors (grab bars in the bathrooms) and children (childproof electrical outlets).
The development received 100 tenant-based Section 8 vouchers, allowing tenants to spend no more than 30 percent of their income on rent. Onsite supportive services designed to meet intergenerational family needs include a service coordinator and manager, security and maintenance services, a social worker, a preschool, afterschool programs, a computer learning center, summer day camp, and both educational and recreational activities for grandparents.1
Presbyterial Senior Services (PSS) also created a housing option for grandfamilies — the PSS GrandParent Family Apartments in New York’s South Bronx neighborhood. The apartments, better known as the Grandfamily Apartments, are the result of initiatives taken by a support group of grandparents raising grandchildren. First opened in 2005, the complex includes energy-efficient equipment and has 50 units for tenants earning less than 50 percent of the area median income. Each unit has 2 or 3 bedrooms, handrails in the bathrooms, an intercom system, and a master bedroom. Subsidized by the New York City Housing Authority, residents pay no more than 30 percent of their income for rent. In addition to the amenities offered onsite, the neighboring David Senior Center offers services such as support groups for kinship caregivers and walking clubs for grandparents.2
More information on these grandfamily housing strategies is available at www.housingfinance.com/ahf/articles/2006/aug/050_ahfaug06.htm and www.fanniemaefoundation.org/grants/casebook12/bac-profile.html. To download Intergenerational Housing Needs and HUD Program Options: Report to Congress, see www.huduser.gov/publications/affhsg/int_genrtnl.html or call 800.245.2691, option 1, to obtain a print copy for a nominal fee. In addition, excellent sources of information about multigenerational family needs and resources are Generations United (www.gu.org) and AARP’s Grandparent Information Center (www.aarp.org/families/grandparents).
1. "Mind the Gap: Grandparents Raising Grandchildren," Communities & Banking, Spring 2002 (www.bos.frb.org/commdev/c&b/2002/spring/gf.pdf).
2. "Affordable Housing Initiatives for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren," Human Services Division, New York City Council, November 22, 2005 (http://webdocs.nyccouncil.info/attachments/69954.htm?CFID=1266668&CFTOKEN=70621011).
