Housing is more than four walls. For older adults, it shapes daily functioning, health, and independence. Yet when it comes to measuring housing insecurity in this population, the field is still catching up.
Our recently published systematic review in The Gerontologist examined how housing insecurity has been measured among older adults across existing literature. Screening over 1,300 articles and including 13 studies, we mapped six core dimensions captured by existing tools: housing unaffordability, instability, poor physical quality, inadequacy, lack or disrepair of housing durables, and poor neighborhood quality.
Two findings stood out. First, age-friendly housing features, such as grab bars and accessible pathways, were almost entirely absent from the reviewed tools. As physical capacity changes with age, these features carry direct implications for older adults’ safety and independent living. Second, psychometric reporting was sparse: no study reported test-retest reliability, and validity evidence was largely informal.
This review is the first of its kind focused specifically on older adult populations. We hope it lays the groundwork for developing purpose-built, validated instruments that reflect the realities of aging, across diverse cultural and policy contexts.
Read the full paper (Open Access): https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnag130
By: Peiyi LU & Tianxin CAI
Department of Social Work and Social Administration / Sau Po Centre on Ageing, HKU
Email: peiyilu@hku.hk; caitian@connect.hku.hk