When I walk through a house with a client, I am rarely surprised by what I find.

A step up into the home that no one thinks about until someone with a walker arrives. A bathroom that made sense in 1987 and now creates genuine risk in 2026. A hallway that works fine with a grocery bag and becomes impassable with a wheelchair. Kitchen storage configured for a standing adult. Lighting that passes for adequate until your eyes are 75.

These are not unusual homes. They are typical homes. And a March 2026 analysis from the Home Improvement Research Institute put a number to that reality: approximately 90 percent of U.S. homes are not aging-ready, according to Census Bureau data cited in the HIRI study. (Source: HIRI March 2026 )

That number deserves a moment.

What "Aging-Ready" Means - and Doesn't Mean

The term can sound like a checklist of accessibility features installed in advance of a need. It is more precise than that.

An aging-ready home, by Census Bureau definition, includes the basic features that allow an older adult to function safely and independently: at minimum, a no-step entry, at least one bedroom and one bathroom on the entry level, and wide interior doorways or hallways. These are not exotic modifications. They are foundational design decisions - the kind that should be standard in new construction but largely are not, and that almost certainly were not present when most of the existing housing stock was built.

The average U.S. home is 41 years old. A home built in 1985 was not designed with these features in mind. The standards, the vocabulary, and the market expectations that make curbless entries and 36-inch doorways normal were not part of that era's builder default.

So the 90 percent figure is not a surprise to anyone who has done this work. But it is a concrete number from a credible source, and that matters for how professionals in this field communicate with clients, with referral partners, and with each other.

The People Already Living in Those Homes

The housing stock issue is one side of this. The population side is equally significant.

According to NAHB data, the share of Americans over 65 has risen from 12.4 percent in 2004 to 18 percent in 2024. Ten thousand Americans turn 65 every day. Most of them are already living in homes that were not designed for how they will need to use those homes in ten or twenty years.

HIRI's March 2026 study also found that 28 percent of households with older adults reported difficulty using some aspect of their home.  That figure represents reported difficulty - the cases where the gap between the home and the person has already become a daily obstacle. The other households have not yet reported difficulty, or have adapted around it without naming it as a problem.

In my experience working with homeowners, the second group is often larger than the first. People adapt. They stop using the tub. They move the bedroom to the first floor without telling anyone. They hold the wall coming down the stairs, every time, and do not think of it as a sign of something. The 28 percent figure reflects what people are willing to name. The real number of households where the home is creating friction is higher.

Why This Is a Professional Opportunity, Not Just a Statistic

The HIRI data does not exist in isolation. It sits alongside a set of related figures that together describe a market in motion.

Fifty-six percent of remodelers are already doing aging-in-place modification work. Seventy-three percent of remodelers report that client requests for aging-in-place features have increased significantly over the last five years.  NAHB is projecting 3 percent inflation-adjusted growth in residential remodeling in 2026, driven in significant part by aging housing stock and homeowners choosing to stay put rather than move.

All of this is one picture. A housing stock that is not aging-ready, an aging population living in it, homeowners choosing to stay, and professionals who are already receiving the requests.

The gap is not a shortage of demand. The demand exists and is growing. The gap is between the requests that are coming in and the credential, the framework, and the scope language that would let professionals serve those requests well.

Thirty-seven percent of homeowners who completed an aging-in-place remodel spent between $5,000 and $24,999 on the work. These are meaningful projects. They are not one-day installs. They require professionals who can assess the full scope, communicate the reasoning to a client or an adult child making decisions for a parent, and document the work in language that conveys competence and care.

What the Number Means Differently Depending on Your Role

The 90 percent figure lands differently depending on where you sit professionally.

For a builder or remodeler, it describes the pipeline. Nearly every house a contractor walks into is a house that does not yet have the features it will eventually need. That is not a distant projection. It is the work already in progress, often just not labeled or priced that way.

For a designer or architect, it describes the standard. Ninety percent of the existing housing stock was built without universal design in the default specification. The question for any designer doing residential work today is not whether aging-in-place considerations are relevant to their projects - it is whether they have the training to apply those considerations with precision.

For an occupational therapist, it describes the environment where clinical outcomes will be pursued. An OT conducting a home assessment is almost always walking into one of those nine out of ten homes. The assessment is only as useful as the assessor's ability to identify what needs to change and communicate that clearly to the people who will implement it. We covered the evidence supporting OT-led home modifications in the previous post on the fall prevention research - the efficacy of those interventions depends in part on the quality of the assessment that precedes them.

For a real estate professional, it describes the inventory. Almost every home in a standard listing - with the exception of relatively new construction built to updated standards, or homes that have already been modified - has an aging-readiness gap. That gap increasingly shows up in how buyers evaluate a property, especially buyers who are 55 and older, or buyers purchasing with a multigenerational household in mind.

The Credential That Closes the Knowledge Gap

Knowing the statistic is not the same as knowing what to do with it.

A professional who understands the 90 percent figure can speak about it. A professional who has completed CAPS training can act on it with precision - can walk through a house, identify specifically what is missing and what can be done about it, communicate the reasoning in plain language, and document the scope in a way that stands behind the work.

That is what the CAPS curriculum is built to deliver. CAPS I covers the business case and the demographic context in depth - including the data behind why aging-in-place work is the mainstream market, not a specialty niche. CAPS II covers assessment methodology: how to evaluate a home systematically and translate that evaluation into specific recommendations. CAPS III covers floor plan solutions - the spatial planning knowledge that makes a modification genuinely functional, not just technically compliant.

Professionals who hold CAPS certification are the ones referral partners trust with complex situations. They are the ones adult children call when they need someone who can look at a parent's home and tell them clearly what the house needs and what it will take to get there.

That is not a credential that happens by accident. It is built intentionally. And the data suggests the timing for building it has not been better.

Fritzi Gros-Daillon, MS, CAPS, ECHM, SHSS, is an NAHB Master Instructor and 2019 NAHB Educator of the Year. She teaches every CAPS course personally.

Next CAPS I sessions: Friday, May 8, 2026 - or - Wednesday, May 20, 2026. Both run 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM PST via Zoom.

-> View the CAPS training schedule and register

If you are working with clients navigating an aging-in-place transition and want a professional consultation on a specific situation or property, Household Guardians offers one-to-one consulting for practitioners and firm principals.

-> Schedule a consulting call