Data shows record number of seniors struggling with housing costs
Data shows a record number of elderly households may be experiencing ‘housing poverty’ or spending a disproportionately large proportion of their monthly income on housing costs.
Amber Comer, a single mother raising two sons in their 20s, found herself in a predicament where “it was eating me out of my house.”
Mr. Comer, now 53, was an assistant manager at The Fresh Market’s Charlotte store., north carolina, The store when she started scraping and pinching to buy a house.
“It was tough with the mortgage, taxes and everything else,” Comer said. Shortly after purchasing their home, she and her sons went away for the weekend and returned to find that their refrigerator, full of new food, was no longer working.
Shortly after, Conver’s car broke down.
She had a small amount of savings, but unexpected expenses forced her to drain her 401(k) account. After that experience, “I just wanted an emergency cushion,” Comer told USA TODAY.
For Comer and thousands of other Americans, that hoped-for cushion is now a reality. Their employers offer “emergency savings accounts” at work, allowing them to direct a portion of each paycheck into a bank account specifically designed for literally anything like car breakdowns, medical emergencies, or unexpected school uniform expenses.
One of the organizations that helped bring the idea to these accounts to fruition was a partnership called the Emergency Savings Initiative (ESI) between the asset management company BlackRock and Commonwealth, a national nonprofit organization focused on financial safety.
A 2019 publication by the Federal Reserve was one of the motivations for this account. A report on the economic well-being of U.S. households explains that “many adults are financially vulnerable and would have difficulty handling an emergency expense of as little as $400.”
That was a wake-up call for BlackRock executives.
“This has forced us to step back and say, ‘You know, we’re committed to creating long-term wealth for families and individuals,'” said Claire Chamberlain, chair of the BlackRock Foundation, the company’s philanthropic arm.
“But it doesn’t make sense to talk about what’s going to happen 30, 40 years from now if people are not able to do their day-to-day jobs and are struggling to make ends meet,” Chamberlain said in an interview.
Savings accounts make people better at saving
ESI estimates that approximately 22 million Americans are eligible to receive an emergency savings account as a workplace benefit. The group doesn’t have data on the number of accounts, but several large employers offer accounts, including Delta Air Lines, AutoNation, Best Buy and Starbucks. Some, but not all, contribute to employee accounts.
When a worker opens an account, it is funded with a portion of the employee’s salary, similar to a workplace retirement account. These funds are accumulated in an account designated as ‘savings’, reminding users to utilize the account according to their actual needs and not for luxuries. However, emergency savings accounts are not tax-advantaged like many retirement plans and some medical accounts.
One of the most important lessons of ESI is that workers who contribute to an emergency savings account do not cannibalize their paychecks for its expenses. In fact, they also become better retirement savers.
As of 2025, among participants who had not yet saved for retirement, 20% of emergency savers began contributing to their 401(k) for the first time after starting emergency savings, according to a report first shared with USA TODAY. More than 52% of people who opened an emergency savings account started building up their retirement funds within four months.
The report estimates that these developments resulted in an additional $3.5 million in new retirement contributions.
Saving is a dynamic process, not something that happens all at once
This account has been extremely helpful to many people and has caused them to rethink the way they save. While conventional wisdom has long held that consumers should accumulate a certain level of savings, say six months’ worth of living expenses, those who study accounts now think of savings as a dynamic process of deposits, withdrawals, and replenishments.
“We want to send a message that you have to build it so that it’s ready when you need it, but actually it’s really nice to be able to write it down,” said Commonwealth co-founder and CEO Timothy Flack.
That’s exactly what Comber (now a store director after his promotion) uses.
“It was nice to see the money grow,” she said. “It’s been very comfortable. I can watch it build up. I only need to access it in an emergency, maybe once a year. I dip into it and then put it back on.”
‘There is no silver bullet’ to improve economic life
The final benefit is how this account can help employers provide a little more stability to their workers. This helps improve morale, attendance, and retention. ESI officials say ESI punches above its weight.
“There is no silver bullet that will help us all live better economic lives,” Flack told USA TODAY. “But if there’s one thing to focus on, hey, having that cushion really makes a difference. It’s versatile and it’s immediate. It builds a sense of dignity in people that they’re in control, that they can deal with life without having to go borrow money or ask someone for help.”
And in today’s high-inflation economy, a savings cushion can be more useful than ever. In May, one of the account’s providers, a company called SecureSave, shared proprietary data with USA TODAY showing how many account holders were using their savings to cover rising transportation costs due to the Iran war.
“What we’ve found is that it’s these little things that trip people up,” SecureSave CEO Devin Miller said at the time. It wasn’t necessarily a job loss or a serious health event, it was often a very mundane event.
Despite these challenges, average families can benefit by taking small steps, Chamberlain said. “Enabling people to set it and forget it can be very powerful,” she said.
