Why older women face an increased risk of losing their homes.
January 12, 2023 Morning Edition
After GBH News published the story of Judith, a 72-year-old woman who spent a year living in her car after she lost her home in a no-fault eviction, and Susan Seriam, a 56-year-old who has been living in shelters since being forced out of her apartment, questions from listeners and readers began pouring in. Why are more older women at risk of losing their homes? Why didn’t the women in the article move in with family members? What can be done to prevent this?
GBH News reporter Liz Neisloss spoke to Morning Edition co-hosts Paris Alston and Jeremy Siegel about those women’s stories, and how they reflect broader trends. She noted that Judith read some of GBH’s Priced Out series about the fight for affordable housing in Massachusetts and emailed GBH to tell her story. If you want to share your experience with the housing struggle in Massachusetts, you can reach us using the form here.
The risk of homelessness for older adults begins much earlier in life
“The high cost of the housing hits a lot of people, especially those who are on fixed incomes,” Neisloss said. “But for many women, in particular women of color — who tend to be renters, who are more typically single in older age — the hold on housing is especially tenuous as they age.”
It starts with lower pay and pay inequity during their working years; time spent caregiving, for children or other family members, can also contribute to lower monetary earnings. And for people who depend on a spouse or partner for support while they work as caregivers, the death of a partner (or a divorce or separation) can be financially dangerous.
“We celebrate the fact that women live longer than men, or tend to,” Neisloss said. “But what it means is: if they were dependent on a double income to be able to pay for housing, or on a spouse or partner’s income, that’s no longer there. And so they have to figure it out.”
