Between 2009 and 2021, the number of older adult households with worst case housing needs increase by one million.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published its 2023 Worst Case Housing Needs Report to Congress. As of 2021, 2.349 million older adult households have worst case housing needs, an increase of more than one million since 2009 when 1.328 older adult households had worst case housing needs.

The full report describes the composition of the record number of U.S. households with worst case housing needs in 2021, 8.53 million, including the 2.35 million older adult households.

A worst case housing needs household is a very low income renter household spending more than half of their income for housing.

“Although nearly four in 10 older adult [very low income] households received housing assistance in 2021—a 0.7-point increase since 2019—aging baby boomers are likely to continue to be a key demographic facing housing problems in the years to come,” the report says.