Cure for Loneliness: Is Co-Housing for Boomers the Answer to Isolation?

Here are some sobering statistics about our generation and aging in America: Boomers are aging alone more than any previous generation, with about one in 11 having neither a spouse, partner, nor child, according to the latest research. To look at the numbers another way, that means there are eight million Americans without someone by their side or looking out for them. And, as if you aren’t feeling worried enough about this yet, the number is only expected to grow in the years ahead.

Eight million Americans have no one by their side or looking out for them.

Obviously, many forces are conspiring to create this scenario, which experts say have us poised on the brink of an elder loneliness epidemic. “The effect of isolation is extraordinarily powerful,” Donald Berwick, former administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, recently told the Wall Street Journal. “If we want to achieve health for our population, especially vulnerable people, we have to address loneliness.” Some have even put a dollar amount on this cost: Social isolation costs Medicare an estimated $6.7 billion a year, mostly from spending on nursing facilities and hospitalization.