Overview:
Housing has long been considered a social determinant of individual and population health. Older adults with low incomes face several challenges to maintaining stable, affordable housing. Using data from a previous explanatory study of older adults waitlisted for housing assistance (n = 267), we explore individual characteristics and themes associated with older adults’ perceived housing instability and risk of future homelessness. This mixed-methods study identifies salient themes of financial insecurity, age discrimination, employment and health, interpersonal relationships, and trauma. Our analysis and findings highlight experiences of instability over the life course related to older adults’ current housing circumstances.
The data used for this analysis were from a study of older adults (≥55 years) who had applied and were waitlisted for publicly subsidized rental assistance in two Oregon counties in 2013 (n = 1,079). With assistance from housing authorities in these counties, paper surveys were successfully mailed to potential respondents, and 267 returned a survey for a 28% response rate. Just under one in five respondents reported there was a time in the last 12 months they did not have a place to stay. A comparable proportion of respondents felt that it was likely or very likely they would be homeless in the future (37.4%) compared to the share of respondents who perceived it was not at all likely (35.6%).