Grandparents are increasingly caregiving for grandchildren and other young relatives. Carly Stern reports for The New York Times on a growing trend of multigenerational caregiving and housing that sometimes goes with it. Grandfamily housing supports multigenerational caregiving; we need more of it.
Today there are some 2.3 million grandparents caring for children. Some of them are lucky to find affordable multigenerational housing options in new communities, such as Bridge Meadows in Oregon, the Fiddlers Annex in Smithville, Tennessee, the Grandparent Family Apartments in the Bronx. NY, and Plaza West, in Washington, D.C.
These new multigenerational communities help older adults with low incomes living with younger relatives. They provide mental health and other social supports.
Grandfamily housing is quite new. There’s not a whole lot of data available on them. We know only that multigenerational housing is in very short supply. There are about 2.7 million kids being raised in grandfamilies and only 19 known grandfamily housing communities. Public-private partnerships fund most of these initiatives.
Only about one third of grandparents in grandfamilies get housing assistance of any kind. It is particularly hard for grandparents to get support if they are not the legal guardians of the children they are caring for. Without assistance, it is challenging for many of them. One in four are raising children with disabilities.
As it is, housing costs can be exorbitant and eat into a sizable portion of people’s income. More than ten million older adults spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing. Many grandparents in grandfamilies cannot live in senior care facilities because these facilities do not allow kids. Their need for housing and social supports is profound.
Congress has introduced legislation, The Grandfamily Housing Act, that would expand the number of grandfamily communities and would pay for renovations to help ensure grandfamilies live safely.
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