Housing crisis hurting elderly homesellers

WASHINGTON, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- The housing crisis is preventing thousands of elderly U.S. residents from selling their homes and moving into assisted-living centers, advocates say.

Aging residents who need the kind of care given in types of senior housing are effectively trapped in their existing homes because they can't find buyers for them to fund the required entry payments into retirement communities, The New York Times reported Saturday.

"It is part of the hidden problem of the recession," Larry Minnix, president of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, told the newspaper. "Every neighborhood, every family's got them. It remains to be seen whether we have a short-term stress, or whether we're facing a crisis."

Officials of The Cedar Community, a senior housing community in West Bend, Wis., said its independent-living occupancy rates have dropped by 4 percent so far this year, partly because many would-be residents were waiting for their homes to sell.

Advocates for the elderly say some assisted-living centers are tapping real estate agents to teach homeowners about online advertising and how to position their homes for showings, while others are working with banks to provide bridge loans to homeowners, the Times reported.