We Cannot Wait: Aging With Dignity Demands Housing with Access

• Pages: 53-55
• Date: 01 March 2025
• Published date: 01 March 2025
• Author: Tom Crishon
• Subject Matter: Derecho Público y Administrativo

Bifocal 46 Issue 4

53

We Cannot Wait: Aging

With Dignity Demands

Housing with Access

By Tom Crishon

Chief Legal Ocer

The Arc of Indiana

In Indiana, like much of the country, we are getting

older. It’s a demographic shift that’s already chang-

ing how we think about health care, transportation,

and especially housing. Ask most older adults what

they want for their future, and they won’t mention

moving into a facility. They will say they want to stay

home—somewhere familiar, safe, and comfortable.

Somewhere they know the neighbors. Somewhere

they can still make it to church, to the pharmacy, or to

lunch with friends.

That’s what aging in place means. But for too many

Hoosiers, especially those with disabilities, that basic

goal is slipping out of reach. The struggle to age safely

and aordably at home is not unique to Indiana. But

by focusing here, we see how a single state’s experi-

ence reects broader national concerns.

The Housing Cost Squeeze

In Central Indiana, nearly half of renters aged 65 and

older are spending more than 30% of their income on

housing, and about one in four spend over half of it.1

When you’re living on a xed income, every dollar

matters. Rising rent, higher utility bills, and property

taxes can quickly turn a lifelong home into a nancial

burden.

Even older adults who own their homes aren’t im-

mune. About 20% of older homeowners are also

considered housing cost burdened.2 For them, the

challenge isn’t just aording the mortgage. It’s rising

insurance premiums, the cost of repairs, winterizing

the house, keeping the roof intact, and eventually in-

stalling a ramp or walk-in shower to stay safe at home.

In many rural parts of Indiana, where housing options

are limited and public transportation is sparse or non-

existent, older adults have even fewer choices. They

may stay in homes that are unsafe or inaccessible

simply because there is nowhere else to go. The result

is housing instability that is harder to see, yet no less

real.

Accessibility Gaps

Then there is the physical structure of the home itself.

Most houses weren’t built with aging in mind. Accord-

ing to a regional housing report that includes Indiana,

only about 27% of homes have basic features that

make them “aging ready”—things like a no-step entry

and a bathroom and bedroom on the rst oor.3 That

means three out of four homes likely have stairs at the

front door, or narrow bathrooms, or other design barri-

ers that can turn daily living into a safety hazard.

Small modications can make a world of dierence.

Adding grab bars in a bathroom or replacing a high-

walled bathtub with a walk-in shower can prevent

falls—the leading cause of injury among older adults.4

Installing lever-style doorknobs, raising electrical out-

lets, or widening doorways for mobility devices can

mean the dierence between independence and institu-

tional care. But those modications can cost hundreds

or even thousands of dollars—far beyond the reach of

many low-income seniors.

You would be surprised how many older adults are

forced to sleep in a recliner or limit their bathing

because their bathroom just isn’t safe anymore—and

they can’t aord to change it.