Older Residents Left Out of NYC's Housing Mix

"Finding adequate housing has become an all-consuming preoccupation for many older New Yorkers, a group whose explosive growth and changing housing needs pose new challenges for the city," write Mireya Navarro and Vivian Yee.

"The intensifying demand for housing for aging adults already overwhelms the existing offerings, especially for the poor, senior services providers say. And the city, they say, has no comprehensive housing plan to accommodate an aging population."

The growing problem of how to house aging populations is uniquely difficult in New York City, where the city's older population has disproportionately high numbers of renters. Even so, report Navarro and Yee, the city's recent efforts to develop housing have underserved older residents. "Of the 165,000 affordable housing units created or preserved under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, fewer than 10,000 were set aside for older residents…"