When Do You Qualify For Senior Housing?

If you are a senior and want to find housing with people your age, you need to look into senior housing.  Senior housing are communities where individual’s who are of a certain age live in at least 80% of the occupied units in a building.  You may be wondering, what age and criteria you have to meet to qualify for senior housing?  Here are some important points you should understand about qualifying for senior housing.

Age Requirement

• Minimum age of 55
  • You can be younger than 55 and live in a 55-and-older community, as long as someone else in your family is at least 55 years old.
  • If you are younger than 55, another possibility is to live on the 20% portion that does not have to be 55.
• Minimum age of 62
  • If you are looking into “62 and older” buildings, then you and everybody else in your home has to be 62 years of age.

Proof Of Age

When applying for senior housing, you will have to show evidence of your age. This evidence can include:

• Driver’s license
• Passport
• Immigration card
• Military identification
•  Approved documentation

If, for any reason, you do not have a valid proof of age, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has said that a self-certification, affidavit, or ​a different document signed by an adult member of your family claiming that at least one occupant in your home is at least 55 years old is acceptable.

Landlords May Produce Stricter Guidelines

A landlord is free to create versions of those exemptions without breaking the law. For instance, a landlord might require that 80% of flats be occupied by a minimum of one individual who is 60 or older (rather than 55), and that 100% of flats (rather than 80%) are occupied by a minimum of one individual who is 55 or older. Or that 80% of flats be occupied only by men and women who are 55 or older (rather than by a minimum of one person who meets the age criteria). Ultimately, the age guideline is up to the landlord

Landlords May Provide Different Requirements To Families With Children

If a building fulfills the 55-and-older exemption, the landlord might decide to rent to families with children. In regards to the stipulations of their leases, landlords can still discriminate against households. For instance, a landlord could deny households with kids certain perks of the apartment community.