A baby boom demographic bulge making its way through the population is going to exacerbate current shortages and create a housing crisis not seen since the end of World War II, according to a report presented to the federal Commission on Affordable Housing and Health Facilities Needs for Seniors in the 21st Century (Seniors Commission).

The crisis will hit not just the traditional housing market, but retirement living quarters, second homes and other housing baby boomers will need. And once the baby boomers are settled in, their kids, so-called "echo boomers" will generate even greater demands on housing.

"The bottom line is: In America today, there is a deficit of affordable and appropriate housing for growing numbers of our older citizens," American Association of Retired People board member Keith Campbell, recently told the Seniors Commission.

The commission was created by Congress to report back on the housing and health needs for the next generation of seniors and to offer policy and legislative recommendations for enhancing services and increasing the available housing for the fastest growing segment of the population.

"When America faced a housing crisis after World War II, it responded. America again needs to respond. The housing and health care services shortfall of today will turn into the housing and health care services crisis of tomorrow if our policy-makers fail to anticipate and act on the arrival of baby boomers who are of modest means," Campbell said earlier this year in a commission field hearing in Miami.

His sentiments echoed similar recent reports, including "Aging In Place" and "Housing America's Seniors" both by Harvard University's Joint Center For Housing Studies and "The Case for Investing in Seniors Housing & Long Term Care Properties" by the National Investment Center for The Seniors.

The reports attempt to awaken sleepy efforts to house the nation's 82 million so-called "baby boomers," people born between the years 1946 and 1964, now aged between 38 and 56 years, and who are almost one-third of the nation's population, according to the U.S. Census.

The median age of the U.S. population was 35.3 years in 2000, the highest it has ever been, reflecting the aging of baby boomers, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Baby boomers hail from the "Me Generation" of status-conscious consumers who live by a never-grow-up Peter Pan philosophy. They eschew retirement with a vengeance -- 74 percent of them say they plan to do, or are currently doing, some kind of paid work in retirement. Only a little more than one third of them expect to have to scale back their lifestyle during retirement and 74 percent of them said they don't want to depend on their children, according to AARP.

AARP's Campbell said the commission must identify for older Americans their needs for housing and supportive services, including special transportation, in-home health care, home-delivered meals and other needs that will allow them to live independent lives for as long as they will desire.

Campbell proposed steps that AARP says should be taken to avert the coming housing crisis.

Published: March 21, 2002

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A journalist for 35-years, Broderick Perkins parlayed an old-school daily newspaper career into a digital news service offering editorial content and consulting services. Perkins' San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group includes the flagship news site, DeadlineNews.Com, offering real estate, personal finance and consumer journalism, and a backshop, the Deadline Newsroom.