Housing costs are the biggest driver of economic insecurity for older adults. Unfortunately, after spending their working years making our many Massachusetts communities a great place to grow up and grow old, many older adults face the reality that they may not have the resources necessary to age in their community. The housing crisis profoundly affects all of us who call Massachusetts home. In 2024, Governor Healey issued Executive Order 621 which directed the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (HLC) to develop the first comprehensive five-year statewide housing plan, “A Home For Everyone”, in 10 partnership with a newly established 20-member Housing Advisory Council. The plan, released in February 2025, estimates that Massachusetts will need to add an additional 222,000 units of housing from 2025-2035—roughly 7% of existing homes.2
Analysis from the Commonwealth’s 2025 Statewide Housing Needs Assessment projects significant growth in the number of households headed by individuals over age 75 between today and 2035. By 2035, the oldest of the baby boomer generation will be turning 90 years old. Advances in public health, nutrition and medicine have provided the most significant gains in life expectancy in human history.3 Increased life expectancy coupled with declining birthrates has created an aging population within Massachusetts with the baby boomer generation, and their offspring, the millennials, representing a disproportionate percentage of the State’s population.
The anticipated growth in households aged 75 or older in Massachusetts will significantly shape the future of our workforce and overall economic competitiveness. Fortunately, our older adults are well equipped to play a strong role in meeting our economic goals and in mentoring our succeeding generations. In comparison to earlier generations, older adults are healthier, more diverse and more educated.4 However, while there are double the number of older adults in the workforce than 35 years ago,5 the baby boomer generation is transitioning out of the workforce and into living on fixed incomes at a time where cost-ofliving adjustments to Social Security benefits have not kept up with the rising costs of living.
Projections from the State Housing Plan indicate that the number and proportion of extremely low income (ELI) residents in Massachusetts will continue to grow, largely driven by an aging population and the increased rates of disability that come with that shift. Older adults in Massachusetts have higher wealth on average, but findings from UMass Boston’s Elder Index estimate that roughly 80% of low-wealth older households have incomes less than what it takes to age well as compared to 63% nationally when factoring in Massachusetts’ cost of living.6 The ability to meet the housing needs of our rising older adult population is not one-size-fits-all and strategies will need to account for the specific strengths and needs that exist within each region and across income brackets.
Recognizing these challenges, the Senior Housing Commission worked to identify barriers to older adult housing production and to recommend administrative, regulatory, and legislative solutions. The Commission developed strategies that would allow Massachusetts to increase the supply of affordable older adult housing, ensure access to underlying services that support healthy aging and prevent costly emergency care utilization (and premature nursing home admission), improve search and application systems for residents with disabilities, and modernize the language and data systems underpinning accessibility policy. The Commission’s recommendations are summarized here and then detailed fully in the sections below.
Finance and General Development
The ability to meet existing, let alone increase, demand for older adult housing is complicated by the higher costs of development for these housing types. Affordable older adult housing requires large subsidies and complex multi-source financing to ensure affordable rents for older adults on fixed incomes. Furthermore, developers face increased costs to ensure necessary accessibility components are in place given the physical challenges faced by many older adults. The Commission identified and recommended strategies to address cost drivers hindering current development efforts and strategies to more effective finance and subsidize the development of affordable older adult housing.
Place-Based Services
Access to supportive services on-site in affordable older adult housing is essential for preserving community tenure; however, these supports are currently fragmented and challenging to sustain. Persistent eligibility gaps and limited coordination between housing staff, health care providers, and health plans leave residents without integrated, proactive services as their needs become more complex. The current system relies on disconnected funding silos, with affordable older adult housing not financed or operated to deliver comprehensive, place-based care. These silos, along with the lack of a critical mass of members in any one building for payers, result in inefficient workforce utilization, avoidable health crises, shortened housing tenure, and premature moves to costly long-term care settings. During a time when the Commonwealth is seeking cost-saving measures and opportunities to better serve older adults in the most appropriate setting, the Commission examined the current landscape for affordable older adult housing and access to placebased services to provide recommendations regarding best practices for place-based services and new funding sources to improve access, overall health outcomes, and operational and cost efficiency.
Accessibility, Maintenance, and Modification
Massachusetts’ aging population and resulting increase in households living with some form of disability will further increase the need for accessible housing. Commonwealth’s existing stock of adaptable units remains limited and new accessible housing production is minimal. The costs associated with home modifications are often out-of-reach for middle and low-income older adults who own their homes. Inconsistent regulatory standards, limited funding availability, rising construction costs and the existing misalignment between our health and housing systems only further impede efforts to address current need. From 1960 to 1985, the state and federal governments also funded a large portion of public housing to house older adults, but these buildings have also significantly aged and are lacking the accessibility features to support aging-in-community—with a current $4B estimate in deferred maintenance and modification capital upgrades needed to the state public housing portfolio alone.7 Amidst challenging federal and state fiscal projections, the Commission identified strategies to more efficiently address existing maintenance and modification needs within older adult housing as well as how to ensure future housing production is built with accessibility in mind.
Housing Lifecycle Management and Search
The Housing Lifecycle Management and Search section includes strategies to help older adults navigate the full housing lifecycle, from planning ahead to finding, securing, and sustaining stable housing as needs change with age. With more than 1.8 million residents aged 60 and older, and many communities where older adults make up a quarter of the population, Massachusetts faces growing pressure to ensure older adults can age safely and affordably in their communities.8 The recommendations in this section focus on reframing communication to combat ageism; creating tools that help older adults and caregivers plan for future housing and financial needs; improving navigation support through training and digital-access initiatives for the aging services network; and advancing innovative housing options such as home sharing, bridge subsidies, and adaptable ADUs. Together, these actions create a lifecycle approach that strengthens stability, expands choice, and supports healthy aging across the Commonwealth.