Housing & Caregiving Trends

Aging in place. Exploding baby boomer population. Independent living. Thousands of new retirees daily. You’ve heard it all before, but we’re here to tell you again: Aging Americans want to live out their older years at home, and their families want them to be safe and happy. (To view a larger version of the infographic in a new window, click here.)   Older Americans report their top concerns about aging are:

• Maintaining physical health (40 percent)
   
• Losing their memories (35 percent)
   
• Maintaining their mental health 
(32 percent)
   

  When asked the same questions, professionals believe the top concerns are:

• Protection from financial scams
(43 percent)
   
• Access to affordable housing 
(38 percent)
   
• Losing their memories (38 percent)
   

  In addition, these same adults say the financial worries that cause them to lose sleep at night are increasing costs of living (28 percent) and unexpected medical costs (24 percent). By contrast, 87 percent of professionals rank unexpected medical expenditures as their top concern, and also list issues such as lack of disposable income (84 percent) and vulnerability to financial scams (83 percent) as concerns, too.

For our industry, these numbers translate to a huge responsibility. HomeCare is your aging in place authority, the go-to source for information, insight and ideas. The following pages represent expert knowledge and experience, and we know it’s information you will reference throughout 2016.

Read the other articles in this series “Services Needed by Older Adults Who Live Alone,” “The Rise of the Multigenerational Household,” “MOBÜL, Provider Profile,” “There’s No Place Like Home” and “The Homecare Technology Race” for more on this topic.