Harvard Center Embarks on Study of Senior Housing Issues

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The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University is undertaking a study of senior housing issues, including the special needs of Americans as they get older.

“It’s a timely and important issue,” says Eric Belsky, Managing Director of the Center. “We’ll be looking at the whole gamut of senior housing and what we think that looks like.”

The report should be issued in early 2014, according to Belsky, who said planning of the study is now underway with input from an advisory committee.

He indicated that the broad-ranging study will cover not only demographic statistics and trends and the different kinds of housing that seniors now occupy (e.g., homes, apartments, assisted living) but also the factors that affect their housing choices – health and physical issues, finances, access to services, etc. – and future needs. The study will also examine policy implications.

“Our task,” Belsky says, “is to take all this and put it into a context that helps people understand what these issues are, why they matter to them personally, and why they have social consequences.”