Boomers Own Half of U.S. Wealth. So Why Are We Seeing More Homeless Boomers? | WSJ

– [Narrator] This chart
shows median net worth by generation in the US and it's what many people think of when they refer to boomers
as the wealthiest generation, but that's only part of the story. As a whole, they hold
about half of US wealth, much of it in real estate, but that's mostly these boomers
born between 1946 and 1954. The younger boomers, on the other hand, are increasingly struggling
with homelessness. Here's how boomers are
exacerbating the housing shortage and overwhelming local economies as a record number of them age. Around 80% of older boomers, who are now mostly in
their 70s, are homeowners. – These are folks who
are able to buy homes when they were younger. A lot of them have paid
off their mortgages and their homes have appreciated a lot over the last few decades. – [Narrator] Boomers own over 35% of all large homes in the US. Most of those homes belong to households with no children living with them. What's happening is that
these older Americans are increasingly choosing to age in place.

– They feel a connection to the community. Financially, they might feel
kind of stuck with their home. You know, I already own
this free and clear. If I wanted to buy another home, that new home is gonna cost a lot more. – [Narrator] This trend
of older homeowners hanging onto their houses is exacerbating the housing shortage and contributing to rising home prices. – It's especially acute
of a problem right now because millennials are at
kind of a prime home buying time in their lives, and the millennial generation
is a very large generation. – [Narrator] California homeowners typically stay put the longest. – California has a very
unique tax structure where you're very much
incentivized to stay where you are because as long as you stay in your home, your property taxes won't go up.

– [Narrator] Not all boomers are holding onto their large homes. Around 20% are selling, but one reason this might not be making as big of an impact on
the housing shortage is that boomers aren't really downsizing with their new home, so they're not increasing the supply of large homes on the market. – That could be driven by
there not being a lot of good, what we call starter home, or
kinda smaller home options, because in general, when
builders are building, they tend to be building larger
and more expensive homes. – [Narrator] At the same time, younger boomers are driving up the number of older homeless people in
cities across the country. – Elderly homelessness has been rare since the reemergence of
homelessness in the mid 1980s. Usually it's been people in
their 20s and 30s and 40s, but now we're approaching close to 30% of the adult homeless population
are people 55 and over. – [Narrator] This is
partly due to the fact that boomers are such a big
cohort, and since the '80s, they've made up the largest share of the homeless population.

This chart shows how
younger boomers specifically have made up about a third of the US homeless population for decades, but a lot of boomers are also
experiencing homelessness for the first time as
they've gotten older. A 2023 UCSF study found that over 40% of homeless older adults in California were homeless for the first
time after the age of 50. For some, this was caused
by a major life event like the death of a spouse
or a medical emergency. For others, especially those
living on social security, it was due to high housing costs. In Naples, Florida, for example, there are more elderly homeless people as social security payments haven't kept up with rent increases. There's also a significant
number of people who worked jobs that didn't contribute to social security, so they're ineligible for social security income in retirement. – We see it very often in
things like migrant labor, construction, especially demolition, high risk kind of jobs
that are low skilled.

So instead, they get this program called Supplemental Security Income, which is around $950 a month right now. – [Narrator] Homes at the
very bottom of the market have also been heavily affected by the nationwide housing shortage. – The supply of those marginal but available housing options shrinks in the context of a very
hot real estate market because even these properties that were serving very low
income people, hotels, motels, the price is going up for those
and the people wanna sell. They wanna to convert, knock down new buildings, what have you. – [Narrator] Low cost
assisted living centers, which were never built in adequate numbers to handle the large boomer generation, have also been closing
amid staffing shortages and financial troubles. Researchers estimate that
in New York City alone, healthcare and shelter costs will surpass $450 million by 2030. Academic researchers attribute the different economic prospects of the older and younger boomers to something called the cohort effect, which is the idea that people
born in the same period share unique experiences
as they move across time. – The older baby boomers in particular, this is a generation
that was coming of age into an economy that was really booming.

– [Narrator] When they bought
homes in the '70s or '80s, home prices were low and
interest rates were high. – What happened right after that was that you had four decades where interest rates basically just fell. That meant that even
though they were entering into home ownership at a
time when rates were high, they were able to refinance. – [Narrator] The second half
of the boomer generation came of age during
back-to-back recessions.

– They faced a very
crowded housing market. Prices were escalating. Young adults in particular
faced the challenge of getting entry into the labor market. – Jobs are hardly coming. How about you? You hiring? – [Narrator] The crack
cocaine epidemic in the '80s led many to struggle with homelessness. – And that population has
continued to be at risk as they've gotten older. – Sometimes if you miss a window by, you know, even five years, 10 years, you're looking at a very
different housing market or you're looking at a
very different labor market and it takes time to catch up. – [Narrator] Over the next 10 years, some researchers are counting on what they call a silver tsunami, a huge wave of housing
inventory from baby boomers aging out of their homes. They say this would free up houses for younger families to move into, but other housing experts say
that's unlikely to happen. – If you are looking for
inventory from that mechanism, it's gonna be a trickle. It's not gonna be like this big tsunami that happens all of the sudden.

– [Narrator] By 2030, all
boomers will have reached traditional retirement age, which researchers expect will
only increase the pressure on healthcare facilities and shelters. – We need to fix the federal safety net. The Biden administration, the budget that they put out this year included $3 billion to
address elderly homelessness. I don't think that's likely to pass, but it's the first time that we've seen a federal proposal of any kind, so at least it's out there
and it's in the conversation 'cause we should not
have destitute elderly or disabled people in the
richest country on Earth..

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