Study: Florida Seniors Hit Hard by Rising Rent

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Rent increases are forcing many Florida seniors to move, and they're among the hardest hit in the country, a new survey suggests.

The new survey from Retirement Living, an Oklahoma-based retirement planning company, used U.S. Census data to show more than 35% of seniors age 65 and older in Florida reported "feeling pressured" to move in the past six months due to rent increases. That's nearly three times the national rate of 12.3%, it said.

The median rent in Florida is $1,719, well above the national median of $1,406, according to the report.

When seniors move out of their home, it's in search of someplace less costly, said Jailyn Montero, the Retirement Living spokeswoman. "With inflation, with rising rent, having to pay more than what you expected to is very stressful," she said.

Broward County has long talked about the lack of affordable housing, where there is an estimated shortage of nearly 73,000 affordable houses in Broward, and another 74,000-unit gap of affordable rental apartments.

Broward officials also say there has been a 70.5% rent increase since 2016. Rents rose by almost 39% between 2021 and 2022 alone, with the average rent being $2,693 last year, up from a monthly rent of $1,942, according to county records.

Retirement Living's research also shows 12.1% of Florida seniors are living below the poverty line, and rising rents are putting many older adults at risk of being displaced.

"Rising rent and inflation impacts all of us, but it's especially burdensome to seniors living on those fixed incomes," Montero said.

In another study, data shows that seniors aged 65 and older are the fastest-growing demographic facing homelessness, she said, attributing a 2023 report by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, and "the need to relocate for affordable housing can push many to the brink of desperation."

In Broward, outgoing Mayor Nan Rich, in her annual "State of the County" address for 2024, said $3 million was recently awarded to a developer to help build a 92-unit senior housing project that will be called Boulevard Gardens, located in unincorporated Broward, near Fort Lauderdale.

Ralph Stone, Broward County's director of the Housing Finance Division, said Boulevard Gardens is one of 13 projects for seniors since 2018 that added more than 1,500 units to the inventory.

"We are one of the least affordable metro areas in the nation as reflected by home prices and high rent rates and that's what's driving seniors to leave," he said. "Seniors who haven't saved are living off Social Security and suddenly are stuck with very high housing costs.

"Seniors are not retiring with enough of a nest egg to afford to live in Broward County unless they are living in a home that's paid off."

Cities also have gotten involved in the efforts. The city of Miramar offered up a $656,000 loan to help build Pinnacle at La Caban a, a five-story, 110-unit affordable housing development for seniors, that is being constructed in Miramar.

Timothy Wheat, a partner at Pinnacle, said recently that La Cabana is just more than half completed and will open in the second quarter of 2025. His firm is also developing 100 units of affordable senior housing in Fort Lauderdale in a project called Pinnacle at Cypress. Construction is scheduled to begin in late 2025.

The data for the Retirement Living report comes from the Household Pulse Survey, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The survey consisted of a 20-minute online questionnaire that logged how emerging social and economic issues affect households across the country, according to Retirement Living.

Nationally, 7,998,154 older Americans (age 65 and above) participated in the survey. In Florida, 535,726 older Americans took part, of which 188,042 reported that a rent increase forced them to relocate.

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