Similar Challenges

Seniors, students & housing

By Erica Rascón on Jun 16, 2016 in News

When it comes to new construction, students are finding themselves in a dilemma similar to renters twice their age. A shortage of affordable and middle-market properties has students and seniors struggling to pay for shelter.

Senior Care

In senior housing, Boomers face limited affordable and middle-income options for their aging loved ones or themselves. New construction caters largely to high-end buyers. Location is a major factor: seniors’ most desired areas include sites with easy access to public transportation, activities, and proximity to family. These centralized locations come with high land costs. In the end, those costs and the costs of fluctuating building materials roll over to the seniors and their caretakers.

Vorice Ratchford served as her mother’s caregiver for nearly a decade. She often checked for housing near her home in a southeastern suburb of Atlanta, but could never find accommodations within her price range.

“Even when she was healthier, we couldn’t find housing that we could afford,” recalls Ratchford. “As her health declined—she had dementia—it became even harder.”

The Alzheimer’s Association reports that housing costs range from $43,200 per year for basic services to $91,250 per year for a private room in a nursing home.

In a single-earner household, taking on additional debt to pay for senior housing wasn’t an option.

According to the 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances, the average American household has $15,054.54 in credit card debt, excluding mortgages and auto loans. Ratchford, like many Americans, has been struggling toward debt freedom.

Ratchford became a full-time caregiver for her mother, putting three adults on the support of a single income. “I can’t imagine how someone with a full-time job could be a caregiver for someone with dementia,” Ratchford says. “Even with my previous job, every cent of my income would need to go to housing for Momma and that’s just not feasible.”

Student Housing

Many students are priced out of housing options for the same reasons. Students seek residences within walking distance of their universities. Such scarce sites come with a notable price tag for developers. To accommodate more beds, housing complexes are becoming taller. Both factors contribute to the higher rents for students.

Summer Cora (pictured, right), a student at University of South Carolina, recently moved back onto campus housing after looking for an apartment near the university. She wanted a mid-priced apartment that was close to campus, in a safe community, with some furniture included in the price. She, like her peers, had a problem finding what she sought.

“I had a lot of problems, which is why I ended up on campus again,” Cora laughs. “First, the closer a building was to campus the more expensive it was. The buildings that were farther away from campus may have been cheaper but they definitely weren’t nearly as safe, accessible, and as accommodating about utilities.”

Rents for housing farther from campus averaged $450 per month—which is a major steal in comparison to other states—but such units excluded utilities, were in neighborhoods with less desirable crime statistics, and required a car to get to campus.

Cora now rents a shared unit closer to the university where the rent is $800 per month, including utilities.  “We have internet, a gym, a pool, garbage disposal, cable, lights, and water all included in the price of rent,” she says. “It’s definitely worth the price. The university makes sure that everything is working in the best order possible and after paying that one big amount at the beginning of the year, you don’t have to worry about literally anything besides going to class and studying. So I guess I got want I wanted and needed.”

Cora is paying for housing with the support of her parents and student loans.

Brandon Rembert (pictured, left), a student at Full Sail University in Florida, watched his older brother maneuver student housing a few years before he himself graduated. Rembert knew what to expect. “I knew I’d need my parents to help me,” he says.

Rembert opted for a two-bedroom apartment close to campus where his half of the rent is $570 per month.  “The community has a pool, fitness center, laundry facility, tennis courts, basketball courts, racquet ball courts, and a club house rental–I don’t use most of it,” he shrugs. “But it’s built into the price. Even with that, for the price, the housing itself meets my expectations but…also for the price, I think they could do more in terms of the actual apartment,” he says.

According to the College Board, students spend more on housing and supplemental products than they do on their education: students attending a four-year, in-state public institution spend an average of $12,368 per year on housing, transportation, and other fees. The average cost of tuition is about $7,000.

The Institute for College Access and Success reports that 69 percent of students who graduated from public and nonprofit colleges in 2014 had student loan debt, with an average of $28,950 per borrower.

“They’re making these expensive apartments but like, really, who can afford them?” asks Rembert. “Most of us can’t go to school full-time and get the hours that we need to pay for school and housing on our own. We borrow money or get money from family and that sends the fake message that we can afford places like this but we can’t, really. Not most of us.”

Middle Market Options

Both ends of the housing spectrum face a shortage of affordable and middle-market housing options and increasing debts.

A report issued by the National Employment Law Project (NELP) reveals that, when averaged across all occupations, real median wages have decreased since the recessions. Between 2009 and 2014, wages dropped by 4 percent. The declines are greater with lower wage occupations.

Those in search of affordable and middle-market housing face an unclear trajectory.

“Graduate and try to get a good job, and hope that I can take care of my parents the way that they took care of me,” says Cora. “That’s the plan, right? And then we see what happens from there.”