[eschaton]

This is a bit of an aside to my OP, but way, way too much U.S. housing policy is concerned with keeping seniors in their homes, even though it's a net negative effect for everyone.

1. Seniors aging in place are often in houses which don't work for an aging person (presence of stairs, for example.

2. Seniors basically destroy the value of single-family homes due to deferred maintenance. I've seen so many homes which were close to ruined even in desirable areas because of something like an old person who either couldn't afford to fix a leaking roof or didn't think it was a big deal.

3. In high-cost areas, it's a really sub-optimal outcome to have 1-2 elderly people in 3+ bedroom homes. They sop up family-sized homes, but don't have families. They live in prime areas close to places of work, but don't work.

I do recognize that there's reasons to keep elderly people in place - like a move makes the onset of dementia more likely - but I still feel like on balance we shouldn't incentivize the elderly to age in place, at least not in higher-cost areas.