Housing needs of grandparent caregivers: grandparent, youth, and professional perspectives

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study examined the housing needs of grandparent caregivers and the youth in their care in New York State. Nine focus groups were conducted separately with grandparent caregivers (n = 46) and youth (n = 34), and interviews were conducted with key informants (n = 17) knowledgeable about housing and issues. Housing needs of greatest priority, contextual differences, and potential barriers to securing housing and social services were identified. Key themes indicated that housing challenges stem from four problem domains: the experience of poverty, which creates affordability challenges that trap grandparent caregivers and their grandchildren in unsuitable homes and unsafe neighborhoods; physical challenges of aging grandparents, which require specific housing accommodations; changes in family composition when taking in grandchildren, which necessitate moving out of prior accommodations or changing housing plans due to regulatory issues; and obstacles to obtaining needed benefits, including a lack of information, burdensome application processes, ineligibility, and a shortage of resources. These issues are discussed with implications for policy and practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Kinship caregivers
• Kinship foster care
• Grandparent caregivers
• Grandparents raising grandchildren
• Housing
• Housing needs
• Housing policy

Notes

¹ Families who spend 30% or more of their income on housing are considered cost burdened, per HUD guidelines.

² The term “grandparent caregiver” or “grandparent” is used inclusively to describe the study sample, since the majority of caregivers were grandparents. One aunt and one great grandmother were included in the sample.

³ The initial evaluation study included a grandfamily housing site in the Bronx, NY. Data from this site was excluded from the current study due to unique features of the housing arrangement that are beyond the scope of discussion. Grandparents residing in the Bronx grandfamily housing site experienced fewer housing challenges due to living in rent-controlled apartments with support services, with results less generalizable to most grandparent caregivers and their families in New York State and beyond.

⁴ Members of the research team conducted all focus groups and interviews, transcribed the data, analyzed the data, and wrote up the results. Team members were trained to take notes during all interviews and focus groups, using a template developed by the principal researcher.

Additional information

Funding

This research resulted in partial fulfillment of a full study of grandfamily housing needs, which was funded by the New York State Legislature in 2014. The NYS Legislature tasked the Division of Housing and Community Renewal to release a request for proposals [RFP# 09032014] to conduct several discrete study components.