As the U.S. population ages, the housing needs of elderly Americans are gaining attention. According to demographers, the number of Americans over 65 years of age will double between 1990 and 2025. Rural America faces even greater challenges to provide sufficient, affordable housing for senior citizens. According to the Housing Assistance Council (HAC), a nonprofit organization, 15 percent of America's rural/nonmetro population is older than 65, and more than half of elderly households live at or near poverty levels. With HUD support, HAC recently released a new report, Federal Programs and Local Organizations: Meeting the Housing Needs of Rural Seniors. The report assesses how different localities use Federal funds and social services to meet the needs of elderly homeowners and renters. HAC's analysis includes case studies of four diverse rural counties: Carteret County, North Carolina; Chenango County, New York; Lake County, California; and Lowndes County, Alabama. A demographic profile of today's elderly population opens the report. Rural regions have larger proportions of elderly people than urban areas, which reflects the exodus of younger persons from rural areas to find jobs in urban areas. Typically, seniors are a stable group and do not frequently move; only about 3 percent of all seniors moved far enough to change county residence. There are certain migration trends among older persons, including moves to retirement communities and small towns in the Sunbelt. However, these "amenity" migrants tend to be more affluent than seniors who are longtime residents or other senior migrants, and, therefore, do not use or need housing assistance programs. The report also focuses on the continuum of housing options that correspond to the normal progression of the aging process: homeownership, rental housing, assisted living, and long-term care. While these options are available in metropolitan areas, most rural communities face a shortage of both rental housing and assisted living. Only one of the four counties analyzed in the study has an affordable, assisted-living project. Therefore, lacking other options, most rural seniors remain in their homes long after they can physically or financially manage a home. As a result, the demand for community-based services, such as food, medical, and transportation services, which enable rural seniors to remain in their homes, is great. Unfortunately, these services are not available in many rural areas—a problem exacerbated by the lack of public transportation to carry rural elders to services in nearby population centers. Federal Programs and Local Organizations: Meeting the Housing Needs of Rural Seniors is available in html format on HAC's Web site: http://www.ruralhome.org/pubs/hsganalysis/elderly/index.htm or for $5.00 by mail, including postage and handling. To request a printed copy of this report, contact Luz Rosas at (202) 842-8600, fax: (202) 347-3441, or by mail: Housing Assistance Council, 1025 Vermont Avenue NW, Suite 606, Washington, DC 20005.
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