Table of Contents

Introduction

Housing is the foundation to ensuring that we all have the opportunity to age in our own homes and communities. Yet conversations about supports for older adults often overlook the importance of federal rental assistance. These programs include various forms of assistance that support low-income renters, such as housing vouchers, public housing, and supportive housing for seniors and people with disabilities. Older adults, including over two million seniors age 62 and over, are served across all these and other federal rental assistance programs.[1]

At the same time, too many low-income older adults – including nearly four million older renter households—are unassisted and do not have affordable housing.[2] These older adults face risks of homelessness and institutionalization. Policymakers must protect and expand federal rental assistance so that everyone, including older adults, can access housing they can afford.

What is Federal Rental Assistance?

In this resource, “federal rental assistance” refers to rental subsidies provided through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s housing and homeless assistance programs, as well as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Rental Assistance (Section 521) program. HUD administers the vast majority of federal rental assistance.

Some forms of federal rental assistance are “project-based” and tied to subsidized units. For example, tenants receiving assistance through HUD’s Section 202 senior housing program live in subsidized units that are part of HUD housing “projects”.

The largest federal rental assistance program (and the federal rental assistance program serving the highest number of older adults) is HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program. Vouchers are generally a form of “tenant-based” rental assistance and provide households with subsidies they can use to rent units in the private market. The HCV program serves about 800,000 older adult households.

HUD programs overall are serving an increasingly older population. Among HUD’s major federal rental assistance programs, about 42% of households are headed by older adults age 62 and over. Almost half of these households include someone with a disability.[3]

More Older Adults Cannot Afford Rents and Are Becoming Homeless

Older adults are the fastest growing age group among people experiencing homelessness, with many losing their housing for the first time after age 50 due to unaffordable rents.[4] While many factors contribute to homelessness, a key driver for older adults and others is housing unaffordability and the widening gap between incomes and rental costs.

In 2024, older adults age 55 and over comprised about 20% of all people experiencing homelessness. Almost half of these older adults were unsheltered, living in places such as cars, parks, or on the streets despite many having serious health conditions and disabilities.[5]

Older adults are significantly overrepresented among extremely low-income renters, many of whom have incomes at or below the federal poverty level.[6] Many low-income older adults live on limited fixed incomes, relying on Social Security and/or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to meet all their basic needs. These benefits, while vital, are modest and have not kept pace with surging rents:

  • SSI: More than seven million older adults and people with disabilities, including more than two million seniors age 65 and over, rely on SSI and are priced out of every housing market in the country.[7] The current maximum federal SSI benefit is only $967 per month for individuals,[8] which is substantially less than the estimated national average rent of around $1,556 per month for a one-bedroom apartment.[9]
  • Social Security: Older adults living on Social Security also often have housing costs that are unaffordable. The average monthly Social Security retirement benefit is only around $1,976.[10] Older adults living on this amount must spend almost 79% of their income to pay the national average rent for a one-bedroom apartment.

In 2024, older adults age 55 and over comprised about 20% of all people experiencing homelessness.

Too Many Older Adults Cannot Access Federal Rental Assistance

Only about one in three older adults who needs subsidized housing receives it because of the scarcity of federal rental assistance.[11] Unlike many other public benefits, federal rental assistance is not an entitlement program in which everyone who is eligible can receive benefits. Congress must allocate funding for federal rental assistance through an annual appropriations process, and this funding consistently falls far short of meeting the need. Although rents and homelessness have increased, levels of rental assistance have dropped to their lowest levels in almost 25 years, meaning that fewer households are being served.[12]

As a result, older adults applying for federal rental assistance face closed or multiyear-long waitlists. In some areas of the country, people may wait more than a decade to receive assistance. According to a national survey of Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs), 71% of respondents identified the unavailability or long wait for subsidized housing as a major challenge facing older adults.[13]

Only about one in three older adults who needs subsidized housing receives it because of the scarcity of federal rental assistance.

Older adults who are waiting for subsidized housing often face dire circumstances, with many unhoused older adults dying while homeless. Research shows that older adults age 50 and over who remain homeless experience accelerated aging and elevated mortality risks. These individuals develop geriatric conditions, such as frailty and cognitive impairments, usually found in people at least 20 years older.[14] Consequently, the median age of death for older adults experiencing homelessness is only about 65 years.[15]

Federal Rental Assistance Helps Older Adults Achieve Economic Security

In addition to supporting older adults with housing, federal rental assistance improves older adults’ economic security. Federal rental assistance is one of the most effective anti-poverty programs for seniors, lifting more older adults out of poverty than any other government program besides Social Security.[16] In 2023, federal housing subsidies raised over 700,000 seniors age 65 and over above the poverty line.[17]

For older adults, housing is their greatest expense.[18] More older adults than ever now experience housing cost burdens, meaning they spend more than 30% of their incomes on housing costs. In 2021, more than half of older renter households (56%, or over four million households) were cost burdened. Adding to this challenge is the lack of assets among older renters, with more than four in 10 older renters having less than $1,000 in cash savings.[19]

Households with federal rental assistance, however, pay an affordable amount (generally about 30% of their incomes) towards rent, with the housing subsidy covering the rest of housing costs up to a certain limit. By helping low-income older adults pay for housing, federal rental assistance reduces seniors’ financial burdens and allows them to use their limited resources to meet their other basic needs, such as food and healthcare.

In 2023, federal housing subsidies raised over 700,000 seniors age 65 and over above the poverty line.

Federal Rental Assistance Helps Older Adults Age in Place

Most older adults who develop long-term care needs want to avoid institutions and age in place instead, remaining in their own homes with in-home supports. Decades of research and evidence show that unaffordable housing leads to people losing their homes, while rental assistance helps people stay housed. Federal rental assistance prevents forced moves and evictions that can lead to not only homelessness, but also institutionalization for older adults with disabilities.

Unaffordable housing is linked to unnecessary institutionalization. A study of older renters found that those who experienced housing cost burdens had the greatest likelihood of moving into nursing homes (the cost of which is often covered by Medicaid), even after adjusting for other factors, such as health and functioning. Researchers concluded that unaffordable housing likely contributes to unnecessary nursing home placement, stating that “access to affordable housing…is critical to prevent costly nursing home use and allow people to live in an environment that appropriately matches their needs.”[20]

For older adults already in – but trying to leave – institutions, federal rental assistance facilitates access to community-based housing. Older adults in particular face challenges transitioning from institutions due to the lack of affordable housing in the community that meets their needs. One study of participants in Medicaid’s Money Follows the Person (MFP) program, which helps disabled adults of all ages move out of institutions and into the community, found that older adults were the only group for whom housing barriers significantly predicted a failure to transition (as opposed to longer transitioning times).[21]

To address housing challenges for participants, many state MFP programs have partnered with public housing authorities (PHAs), which help administer federal rental assistance at the state and local levels. These collaborations have improved access to housing for MFP participants who would otherwise be unable to secure housing in the community.[22] PHAs even have the option under federal regulations and guidance to implement waiting list preferences for older and disabled adults, including those transitioning from or at risk of entering institutions.[23] Federal rental assistance can therefore enable older adults to live in the community and age in place.

Conclusion

Federal rental assistance is a critical part of the nation’s safety net for seniors. By promoting housing and economic security, federal rental assistance can help solve homelessness and prevent institutionalization among older adults. To support low-income older adults, policymakers must protect and expand federal rental assistance so that all seniors can stay housed and age with dignity.

Endnotes

  1. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “Federal Rental Assistance Fact Sheets” (January 2025), available at https://www.cbpp.org/research/housing/federal-rental-assistance-fact-sheets#US. ↑

  2. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “Chart Book: Funding Limitations Create Widespread Unmet Need for Rental Assistance” (February 2022), available at https://www.cbpp.org/research/housing/funding-limitations-create-widespread-unmet-need-for-rental-assistance. ↑

  3. Urban Institute, “Staffing and Funding Cuts at HUD Would Have an Outsize Effect on Older Adults” (April 2025), available at https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/staffing-and-funding-cuts-hud-would-have-outsize-effect-older-adults. ↑

  4. HHS, “Addressing Homelessness Among Older Adults: Final Report” (October 2023), available at https://aspe.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/9ac2d2a7e8c360b4e75932b96f59a20b/addressing-older-adult-homelessness.pdf. ↑

  5. HUD, “The 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress” (December 2024), available at https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2024-AHAR-Part-1.pdf. ↑

  6. See Opportunity Starts at Home, “Aging Advocates Are Housing Advocates” (July 2024), available at https://www.opportunityhome.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Aging.pdf. The federal government generally defines “extremely low-income” renters as those with incomes that do not exceed the greater of the federal poverty guidelines or 30% of the area median income. ↑

  7. Technical Assistance Collaborative, “Priced Out” (2025), available at https://www.tacinc.org/resources/priced-out/; SSA, Monthly Statistical Snapshot (January 2025), available at https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat_snapshot/#table3. ↑

  8. SSA, “SSI Federal Payment Amounts for 2025” (2025), available at https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/SSI.html.  ↑

  9. Apartments.com, “Apartments.com Rent Report for January 2025: A Quiet Start to the New Year” (February 18, 2025), available at https://www.apartments.com/blog/apartments.com-national-rent-trends-report. ↑

  10. SSA, “What is the average monthly benefit for a retired worker?” (January 2025), available at https://www.ssa.gov/faqs/en/questions/KA-01903.html. ↑

  11. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “77% of Low-Income Renters Needing Federal Rental Assistance Don’t Receive It” (2024), available at https://www.cbpp.org/77-of-low-income-renters-needing-federal-rental-assistance-dont-receive-it#77-of-low-income-renters-needing-cbpp-anchor. ↑

  12. New York Times, “As Need Rises, Housing Aid Hits Lowest Level in Nearly 25 Years” (December 2023), available at https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/19/us/politics/housing-aid-rent-costs.html. ↑

  13. USAging, “2023 Chartbook – More Older Adults, More Complex Needs: Trends and New Directions from the National Survey of Area Agencies on Aging (2023), available at https://www.usaging.org//Files/AAA-Survey-Report-23-508.pdf. ↑

  14. Rebecca T. Brown, et al., “Geriatric Conditions in a Population-Based Sample of Older Homeless Adults” (February 2016), available at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5881727/; see also Laura Kurtzman, “Homeless People Suffer Geriatric Conditions Decades Early, UCSF Study Shows” (February 2016), available at https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2016/02/403511/homeless-people-suffer-geriatric-conditions-decades-early-ucsf-study-shows. ↑

  15. Rebecca T. Brown, et al., “Factors Associated with Mortality Among Homeless Older Adults in California” (August 2022), available at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9425284/. ↑

  16. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “Research Shows Rental Assistance Reduces Hardship and Provides Platform to Expand Opportunity for Low-Income Families” (December 2019), available at https://www.cbpp.org/research/housing/research-shows-rental-assistance-reduces-hardship-and-provides-platform-to-expand. ↑

  17. See U.S. Census Bureau, “Poverty in the United States 2023” (September 2024), available at https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2024/demo/p60-283.pdf. ↑

  18. National Council on Aging, “How Older Adults Can Get Help Paying for Housing” (May 2024), available at https://www.ncoa.org/article/how-older-adults-can-get-help-paying-for-housing/. ↑

  19. Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, “Housing America’s Older Adults 2023” (2023), available at https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/reports/files/Harvard_JCHS_Housing_Americas_Older_Adults_2023_Revised_040424.pdf. ↑

  20. Meghan Jenkins Morales, et al., “The Effects of Housing Cost Burden and Housing Tenure on Moves to a Nursing Home Among Low and Moderate-Income Older Adults” (June 2020), available at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7681215/#s13. ↑

  21. Julie Robison, et al., “Challenges to Community Transitions Through Money Follows the Person” (Jan. 2020), available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7240761/. ↑

  22. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, “Report to Congress: Best Practices in the Money Follows the Person (MFP) Demonstration” (February 2024), available at https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/long-term-services-supports/downloads/mfp-best-practices-rtc-feb2024.pdf. ↑

  23. See, e.g., 24 C.F.R. § 982.207; HUD, Notice PIH 2012-31 (Assisted Housing for Persons with Disabilities Under Olmstead Implementation Efforts to Provide Community-Based Options Rather Than Institutional Settings) (June 2012), available at https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/pih2012-31.pdf. ↑

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