Despite the overwhelming desire among the baby boomer generation for aging in place in their current homes, practical challenges like living costs and elevated home prices appear to be leading more older people to cohabitation with roommates, or “boommates.” This is according to a column published this week by NextAvenue.
“As home prices rise and property taxes and insurance bills soar, it’s become ever more difficult to age in place,” the article stated. “As a result, home sharing and renting to ‘boommates’ — roommates of the baby boom generation — has grown in popularity. While there’s no reliable estimate of how many Americans are eschewing relocation for staying in their homes, the housing market has created a tipping point for those who choose not to cash out their home equity for a new domicile.”
John F. Wasik, who wrote the article and routinely comments on retirement issues, told the story of a neighbor named Linda Wiens who owns a similar kind of house to his own but opted to fashion the lower level into an apartment and rent it out.
“[I wanted to] have my house used in a better way — it was too much room for one person,” she told Wasik.
There is no single element that is fueling the additional receptiveness that baby boomers seem to be having toward cohabitation. While many retirees in the past would often sell their larger family homes for a smaller living space in a sunnier part of the country, record-high home prices have pushed these scenarios out of reach for many retirees, the article explained.
“That has created incentives for both retirees who want to stay in their homes and domicile seekers who need affordable places to rent,” the article stated.
Data from housing nonprofit Front Porch cited in the article indicates that “the average income for a homeowner looking to share a home with another roommate is just slightly over $46,000, while the income of an average housing seeker is around $40,000.”
A July story from Changing America, a subsection of political news outlet The Hill, previously reported that these cost concerns have made renting out portions of a home a more viable solution for older Americans.
Recent data from Alignment Health also illustrated why aging in place is seen as a social barrier among certain seniors. A survey conducted by the organization highlighted the anxieties that older Americans feel about issues stemming from aging in place and included testimonials from respondents.
The kinds of concerns varied, with one respondent concerned about being home alone if a medical emergency should suddenly occur. Another woman expressed concern about the idea of burdening her adult children by needing help while living alone.
