REALTORS® who try to understand the housing challenges Baby Boomers face as senior citizens can put themselves in a more competitive position to help potential clients throughout the next 20 years.

That’s because the number of Baby Boomers who will become seniors will continue to become greater for some time, said a guest speaker at Tuesday’s IAR Public Policy Meetings, Jennifer Molinsky.

Jennifer Molinsky

Molinsky, a senior research associate at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University and a lecturer at the Graduate School of Design, made her WebEx presentation during the IAR Housing Opportunity Working Group meeting.

She recapped the September 2014 report by the Joint Center titled “Housing America’s Older Adults – Meeting the Needs of an Aging Population.”

Among Molinsky’s points:

• Older adults (65 and up) face a higher risk of isolation because they are carrying more debt into their retirement years;
• Rapid growth of older renters will put more pressure on housing assistance programs;
• Very few homes have at least three accessibility features that would help seniors (i.e. single-floor living, lever-style handles on doors and faucets); and
• The cost of long-term care makes it out of reach for most renters – typical renters would deplete their assets in just a few months.

Read the entire report.

For more about Molinsky, see her biography.

The working group also featured presentations by Housing Policy Advisor Sharon Gorrell, Barry Ramsay (USDA), Kristie Engerman, Kyle Anderson, Shannon Burke (NAR), Greg St. Aubin, Loretta Alonzo and Kay Wirth.