Housing & Long-Term Care
Real numbers and practical options for assisted living costs, senior housing waitlists, and finding affordable apartments.
Where you live in later life is usually the largest cost you face. These guides give the going rates for assisted living, explain what Medicare and Medicaid will pay toward care, and set out the Medicaid rules that affect your home and savings: the look-back period, spend-down and estate recovery. Others cover affordable senior apartments, housing waitlists, property tax relief, and where to turn if you are at risk of losing your housing.
Does Medicare Cover Long-Term Care? Skilled Nursing, Home Health, and Hospice Explained
Medicare pays for skilled care with an end point: a rehab stay, home health visits, hospice. It does not pay for ongoing help with daily living.
Read more → Housing & Long-Term CareWill Medicaid Take My House? What Estate Recovery Actually Means
Medicaid does not take a house when someone enters a nursing home.
Read more → Housing & Long-Term CareHow the Medicaid Look-Back Period Actually Works (With the Penalty Math)
Medicaid reviews five years of transfers before a long-term care application.
Read more → Housing & Long-Term CareMedicaid Spend-Down: What It Really Means (And the Myths That Trip People Up)
"Spend-down" covers two separate rules, one for savings and one for monthly income. Most mistakes come from mixing them up or from treating a gift as a spend-down.
Read more → Housing & Long-Term CareSpousal Impoverishment Protections: How CSRA and MMMNA Actually Work
A spouse at home does not have to spend down to nothing before the other qualifies for nursing home Medicaid.
Read more → Housing & Long-Term CareDoes Medicaid Pay for Assisted Living? The Real Answer
Medicaid can pay for care in assisted living, but never for rent or meals, and the care coverage comes with a waitlist in many states.
Read more → Housing & Long-Term CareHow Much Does Assisted Living Cost? A State-by-State Guide
The national median is $6,200 a month. State medians run from about $4,400 to more than $12,000, and the advertised base rate often leaves out care fees.
Read more → Housing & Long-Term CareSenior Housing With No Waiting List: What Are Your Options?
Subsidized senior housing nearly always has a waiting list of a year or more. These four options can get you housed sooner, and you can pursue them while you wait.
Read more → Housing & Long-Term CareLow-Cost Senior Apartments: What to Look For and Where to Start
Affordable senior apartments come in a few distinct types with different rules. Here is how to search for each, what to ask, and how to spot a fake listing.
Read more → Housing & Long-Term CareReal Help for Seniors Facing Homelessness: Federal Resources
No single office handles senior homelessness. Help is organized locally, and two phone numbers connect you to it. Here is who to call, in what order, and what to ask for.
Read more → Housing & Long-Term CareProperty Tax Exemption vs. Freeze vs. Deferral
An exemption lowers your bill, a freeze stops it from rising, and a deferral postpones it as a debt on your home. Know which one you are applying for.
Read more →Paying for care and keeping a home
The biggest financial risk in later life is long-term care. Medicare does not pay for ongoing custodial care in a nursing home or assisted living, so most families end up paying privately, using long-term care insurance, or qualifying for Medicaid. Medicaid's rules for nursing home care are strict, and they are where families make the most costly mistakes: giving money away inside the look-back period, or assuming a spouse at home will lose everything.
| Rule | 2026 figure |
|---|---|
| Medicaid look-back for nursing home care | 60 months before you apply in most states |
| Typical asset limit for the person applying | $2,000 in most states |
| Assets a spouse at home can keep (CSRA) | Between $32,532 and $162,660, depending on the state |
| Medicare skilled nursing coverage | Up to 100 days per benefit period after a qualifying hospital stay; $217 a day from day 21 |
Where to start
- Pricing care? Use the senior care cost calculator and read how much assisted living costs.
- Planning for Medicaid? Check long-term care Medicaid eligibility, then read about the look-back penalty and spousal protections.
- Worried about the house? See what estate recovery really means.
- Looking for affordable housing? Start with low-cost senior apartments and the Section 8 eligibility calculator.