Key senior living trends in 2025: Housing costs, AI integration, staffing challenges shape future

Which key senior living trends emerged or became more significant in 2024, and what do local experts expect for 2025? We checked in with three local leaders from different vantage points in the space to find out.

“Some of the trends are kind of constant, but one of the things that we saw an increase in 2024 was the number of people reaching out to Lifespan with questions and issues about housing and affordability,” said Brittany Flanagan, Director of Eldersource at Lifespan of Greater Rochester.

Lifespan is a Rochester-based nonprofit that helps older adults and caregivers take on the challenges and opportunities of longer life. Its Eldersource program offers care management, which can include assistance with decisions about housing options such as assisted living, adult homes and nursing homes.

“What’s different this year, particularly, is that the cost of bringing care into the home has substantially increased for a variety of reasons,” Flanagan said. “People often want to stay in their homes but, unfortunately, it’s become more expensive for people to bring services in. So that’s been a big topic.”

It’s not a topic she expects will fade away this year, but she is seeing some hopeful signs of more affordable housing options for older adults on the horizon.

“I’ve noticed a trend of some of our local nonprofit senior living organizations really putting effort into providing additional housing options,” Flanagan said. ‘Especially for housing that fits that middle ground — older adults who can’t maintain their homes anymore but are not able to go into an expensive senior living community.”

She is hopeful that, in the next few years, the region will see  an expansion in affordable housing and subsidized senior housing communities.

“Unfortunately, we saw post-COVID that a lot of people who were in non-subsidized, traditional rental apartments had their rents increase sometimes by three to four hundred dollars, but their cost of living has increased too,” Flanagan said. “It has just priced people out and there’s not enough senior subsidized housing to fit everybody in.”

When talking with older adults about what is important to them in terms of housing, Flanagan most often hears about independence.

“They want to maintain independence as best as possible,” she said. “So even when they’re going into a situation where they do need a little bit more help, it’s still important to them to maintain control and independence.”

Transparent pricing from senior living communities is also high on the list of importance.

“People really appreciate cost transparency,” Flanagan said. “I’ve been in this field for sixteen years and I will say that that’s something that I’ve noticed an improvement upon with these communities is that they have become very transparent and upfront about what’s included in their fees.”

Flanagan invites older adults with questions about housing to call Lifespan or visit the resources on their website.

Aaron Fields is the CIO at St. Ann’s Community, a Rochester-based nonprofit that offers a robust continuum of care for older adults that includes independent retirement living, assisted living, skilled nursing, memory care, short-term transitional care, palliative care, and adult day programs.

From his vantage point, 2024 was a year of digital transformation for the organization’s staff and residents. In the summer of 2024, the organization launched an app that, among other things, allows residents to easily access activities calendars, menus and more.

“It’s just another way to help people feel more engaged and like members of the community,” said Fields, who notes all the information on the app is still available in paper form for those who prefer it. “We’re trying to meet people where they’re at and help them make connections.”

These digital options will increase in 2025 with the option for mobile and kiosk-based ordering of meals being rolled out within the next few months. St. Ann’s will also be piloting different artificial intelligence [AI] platforms.

“AI is the biggest buzzword in the industry at the moment,” said Fields, who shared that the organization is in the very early stages of piloting an AI-powered tool for ambient digital scribing for medical documentation. “It has the potential to be a huge time saver for clinicians and could lead to better clinical outcomes.”

Robert W. Hurlbut, vice president of Hurlbut Care Communities, agrees that AI is the biggest trend in senior living right now and he anticipates its integration into care will build throughout 2025.

“It can help nurses with documentation and dispensing medications and can even be used to help prevent falls,” said Hurlbut, giving a few examples of AI usage in assisted living communities.

Another trend and one of the industry’s biggest challenges beginning the new year, Hurlbut said, continues to be staffing. Nationally, while many facilities’ occupancy rates are returning or have returned to pre-pandemic levels, staffing has not.

“Everyone’s in the same boat,” Hurlbut said. “We’re all caring for the same amount of people with fewer people.”

The American Health Care Association’s 2024 State of the Sector Report​ showed that seventy-two percent of nursing homes say their current workforce levels are lower than pre-pandemic staffing levels and ninety-nine percent of nursing homes currently have open jobs.

At Hurlbut Care Communities, which is a family-owned business that owns and operates eleven private skilled nursing facilities in Monroe, Livingston, Seneca and Wayne counties, they’re addressing the labor shortage by focusing on a new workforce development mindset.

“We’re asking people ‘Where do you see yourself in five years and what can we do to help you get there,’” he said, noting the organization is promoting from within, offering accredited online CNA classes with on-site clinical training and also providing financial support for employees who want to advance to LPN or RN status.

Caurie Putnam is a Rochester-area freelance writer.