LOW INCOME SINGLE ELDERS

by Doug Korty

In 2009, one in three Americans 65 or older (13 out of 38 million) lived in low income households, including 8.9% in poverty, and 24.8% in near poverty. Women were more likely than men to be low income, 39% vs. 27%. This increases with age, poverty or near poverty was 44.2% for people 85 or older.

As expected, low income was more common for African American elders at 50.2%, and Hispanics at 50.8%. It varied by living arrangement also. Poverty or near poverty for people over 65 living with a spouse with or without children under 18 was 22.9%, living alone or with children under 18 never married 48.1%; living alone or with children under 18, previously married 53.8%.

A large percentage of women over 65 are single. For women born between 1946 and 1964, the projected marital status at age 62 is 59.4% married, 13.9% widowed, 19.1% divorced, 7.7% never married. For African American women the projected numbers are: 43.7% married, 13.7% widowed, 24% divorced, 18.6% never married.

An important benefit for women is slipping. "More women are entering retirement without any claim on their spouses’ Social Security benefits—marriages must last ten years for a spouse to qualify. Between 1990 and 2009, the share of 50–59 year old women who were never married for more than a decade more than doubled from 7.5 percent to 16.2 percent. Among African-American women, the share skyrocketed from 13.4 percent to 33.9 percent."

Poverty for single elders is particularly difficult because expenses per person are higher than for couples. Expenses for one person are on average 75-80% of the expenses of a couple. This is because housing, utilities and transportation costs are not much less for one retired person than they are for two. Thus, the loss of a spouse due to death or divorce often not only pushes someone into poverty or near poverty by lowering their household income but also hurts because their expenses fall by much less than half. For example, a couple with an income of $3000 per month and average expenses of $3000 – one person dies, the spouse is left with $1500 per month income and $2250 in expenses (75% of $3000), facing a $750 per month shortfall. A person who was not poor suddenly finds they are incapable of paying all of their bills.

By sharing a home and car with another person, someone could cut expenses by 33%. Sharing with more than one person could cut expenses even more. It makes sense therefore for low income singles to share housing. This may involve something as simple as reaching out to friends or relatives or placing or answering an ad. Or it could mean something more involved such as contacting organizations dedicated to helping people find shared housing situations:

http://nationalsharedhousing.org/

http://homeshare.org/programmes-worldwide/usa/

http://www.sharinghousing.com/

Relevant information is available:

http://www.americanbar.org/publications/gp_solo/2013/july_august/a_guide_shared_and_communal_housing_the_elderly.html

http://homeshare.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/A-Consumers-Guide-to-Homesharing.pdf

Nolo, the legal information publishing company, has a book on the subject, The Sharing Solution: How to Save Money, Simplify Your Life & Build Community, by Janelle Orsi & Emily Doskow, Nolo, 2009

Sources for this article:

http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/412296-Poverty-Among-Older-Americans.pdf

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1522

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/social-mobility-memos/posts/2014/10/09-retirement-women-poverty-social-mobility-harris