![\"Novato](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786971375_296_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Many seniors, even if they would consider downsizing, have few viable options. Above, Novato Village Senior Apartments in Novato, Calif.<\/p>\n
(Google Maps)<\/p>\n
California, across the board, has struggled to keep up with growing demand for housing, especially affordable options. Slow and limited new construction has driven steep competition and rising prices. But exacerbating the state\u2019s housing crisis is this aging generation that has little incentive to leave their longtime single-family properties, originally designed to house more than just one or two people. <\/p>\n
Many seniors, even if they would consider downsizing, have few viable options, experts say, and now, neither do their adult children, who may want to live nearby but can\u2019t find anything affordable. It\u2019s an issue that\u2019s particularly pronounced in Marin County. <\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like we\u2019re kind of a preview to the future of what happens when you don\u2019t build housing: You get a very rapidly aging population,\u201d Silva said. \u201cIt\u2019s part of the housing crunch that many people don\u2019t think about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other parts of the state have spent the last few years racing to build more housing. Yet across the board, California has still experienced low vacancies and high housing costs \u2014 even as the population essentially plateaued or even dipped in some areas<\/a>. <\/p>\n While aging baby boomers play a big part in this, housing experts say a similar phenomenon is occurring with young and middle-aged adults, who are having fewer children later in life, or not at all, which also is keeping households smaller among that demographic. <\/p>\n \u201cThe number of people per unit has been going down,\u201d said Eric McGhee, policy director and senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. \u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily an unhealthy development, we just have to understand … we\u2019re going to have to build more housing than the population numbers might otherwise expect.\u201d<\/p>\n McGhee was among the authors of a new analysis<\/a> that found the average household size in California fell from 2.89 in 2019 to 2.77 in 2024. That drop helps explain how the state added more than 650,000 new housing units during the period yet there was a relatively limited effect on housing availability and affordability, McGhee said. <\/p>\n Instead of causing vacancy rates to rise and housing costs to dip, the authors believe Californians simply started to spread out. <\/p>\n \u201cMore units are needed to house the same number of people,\u201d the report said. \u201cSustaining the pace of construction \u2014 and directing it toward the types and locations of housing that meet evolving household needs \u2014 remains an urgent policy priority.\u201d<\/p>\n And so far, the market has struggled to respond to those needs, said William Fulton, co-director of UC San Diego\u2019s Center for Housing Policy and Design<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re building has not kept up with who we are,\u201d Fulton said. \u201cOur households are smaller than ever, our houses are bigger than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n The majority of home construction across the state continues to be single-family homes \u2014 with increasingly large footprints<\/a> \u2014 or the classic four- or five-story apartment building, usually for rent, Fulton said. Accessory Dwelling Units have become much more popular and feasible in recent years \u2014 often considered a good option for aging family members, as indicated by their \u201cgranny flat\u201d moniker \u2014 but experts say it\u2019s still not clear just how frequently the units are being used for seniors. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to know what people want when they only have certain options,\u201d Fulton said. \u201cThere have to be more options in between, what is often called the missing middle … more different types of houses at more different price points.\u201d<\/p>\n Without enough viable, smaller options on the market, there\u2019s little reason for seniors to leave their longtime homes, said David Garcia, deputy director of policy for UC Berkeley\u2019s Terner Center for Housing Innovation. <\/p>\n \u201cYou have less turnover in the housing market as a result, which is exacerbated by the state\u2019s property tax structure,\u201d Garcia said, referencing Proposition 13, the 1978 tax cut that dramatically limited homeowners\u2019 tax bills, particularly for longtime owners. <\/p>\n This cycle has helped make it so difficult for first-time homeowners in the state, a milestone that doesn\u2019t occur for the majority of Californians until age 47, according to another PPIC report<\/a>, up from age 36 in 2009. Nationwide, more than half of residents own a home by age 36.<\/p>\n Fulton called the dynamic between demographics and housing a type of \u201cchicken and egg\u201d situation, because as families spread out and live with fewer people, it limits the housing units available to rent or buy. But without enough housing options scaled for these smaller households, families feel limited to their too-large homes, minimizing a healthy churn in the housing market. <\/p>\n In California, nearly 10 million people \u2014 roughly a quarter of the population \u2014 will be 60 or older by 2030, the state estimates<\/a>, and that share will only increase as time goes on. <\/p>\n About 20% of these 60-and-up California residents live alone. <\/p>\n Nationwide, the country also is grappling with a huge aging population. But the effects of that population in California are particularly pronounced because of the state\u2019s backlog of housing needs, McGhee said. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have lower vacancies and we have higher people per household to begin with,\u201d McGhee said. Even if families weren\u2019t spreading out more, it would take a larger uptick in housing construction to make any significant difference.<\/p>\n