New Jersey’s Changing Face: Planning for Intergenerational Households in a Diverse State

July 1st, 2025 by Helen Kioukis

New Jersey’s demographic shifts and our current housing supply and affordability crisis require planners and local officials to rethink what many consider “traditional” housing models and explore, embrace, and encourage a variety of living arrangements. Intergenerational housing models—living arrangements that bring together people of different generations, regardless of if they hold familial relationship—offer ways to meet our housing and community needs and plan for the future.

In the session “New Jersey’s Changing Face: Planning for Intergenerational Households in a Diverse State,” at the 2025 NJ Planning and Redevelopment Conference hosted by New Jersey Future and the New Jersey Chapter of the American Planning Association, moderator Helen Kioukis, Policy Manager at New Jersey Future, provided an overview of New Jersey’s changing demographics, the housing market, and intergenerational housing types. Panelists Luis Ortiz, Realtor with Keller Williams and the Luis Ortiz Group; Ruchi Dhar, Principal and Founder of RD Architectural Studio; Dean Dafis, Maplewood Committee Person and former Mayor, and a Director within DCA’s Division of Housing and Community Resources, and Nedia Morsy, Executive Director of Make the Road New Jersey provided diverse perspectives and insights on housing trends, design and program innovations, community dynamics, and the policy reforms needed to support intergenerational households.

New Jersey Overview

Over the last 30 years, New Jersey’s non-Hispanic white population has declined from 74% of the state’s makeup in 1990 to 51.8%, with the most significant growth happening among the Hispanic and Asian populations. Charts from the Pew Research Center show that the U.S. population living in multigenerational households has also quadrupled since 1971, driven by Hispanic and Asian population growth. Immigration patterns, cultural factors, and economic reasons make Hispanic and Asian Americans more likely to live with multiple generations.

While New Jersey’s racial and ethnic diversity increases yearly, so does the 65+ population, as we live longer and healthier lives. The number of older adults in NJ increased from about 1.1 million in 2000 to more than 1.5 million in 2020—a 38% increase. If New Jersey’s projections continue to track with national projections, then almost 1 in 4 residents will be 65+ by 2050.

Affordability is another reason we should consider various housing models when planning for the future. New Jersey has the sixth-highest median home sale price in the country at about $508,000, and rents are 24% higher than the national average. 29% of households that own their home and nearly half of all households that rent are considered cost-burdened, meaning they spend at least 30% of their gross income on housing costs. And costs will continue to increase if New Jersey does not begin producing more housing. Current estimates show that there’s a shortage of about 205,000 rental homes that are affordable and available for extremely low-income renters in our state.

Intergenerational Housing Models

“Intergenerational housing” is a broad category that covers a variety of housing and community types, and a multigenerational household is just one type of intergenerational model. Multiple generations can live under one roof in a single-family home, or duplexes, triplexes, and other multi-family buildings. Two recent developments in Paterson have affordable housing set-asides specifically for grandparents raising their grandchildren. Accessory dwelling units, smaller homes built on the same property as an existing house, are another option to accommodate intergenerational households. Finally, home-sharing programs and intentional intergenerational communities—such as university retirement communities that provide housing for older adults within college campuses—are additional models municipalities can consider. While providing more types of housing for people at all income levels, intergenerational housing models also offer potential solutions to issues ranging from childcare, eldercare, financial insecurity, and social isolation.

Insights from the Field

Nationally, Hispanic households are more likely to live in multigenerational settings than their non-Hispanic counterparts: 32%, compared to about 18% of non-Hispanic households. Realtor Luis Ortiz sees this trend among the Hispanic families he works with across South Jersey, with parents, their children, and in some cases, in-laws, coming together to purchase a home. The combination of social benefits, affordability, and lack of inventory makes multigenerational living a creative and popular way for families to achieve homeownership, and the multigenerational home becomes the “starter home” in these cases.

While the inventory of duplexes and other types of “missing middle” housing is low across New Jersey, there are ways for single-family homes to accommodate the growing needs of intergenerational households, as we learned from architect Ruchi Dhar. Ruchi shared various design strategies that allow for more independence under one roof in a model she referred to as the “flex home.” These strategies include creating separate entrances, private suites within homes, multipurpose rooms, kitchenettes, and other universal design concepts that support aging in place. Financial considerations and help with caregiving are two main reasons people seek to incorporate these design strategies into their building and home modification plans.

However, creating a “flex home” with these design strategies or constructing an accessory dwelling unit requires municipalities to reform their zoning code or evaluate projects case-by-case—a prolonged, costly, uncertain, and often frustrating process. Maplewood Committee member Dean Dafis shared the policy and program innovations his municipality has enacted to overcome these process barriers, become an age-friendly community, and support intergenerational housing models. He stated that we need more elected officials to “lean into these policies” that create more types of homes for people of all ages and stages of life and “drive intentional integration.” Maplewood adopted an ADU ordinance exclusive to seniors, launched a home sharing program in a public-private partnership with Homeshare, Inc., and is exploring other redevelopment opportunities, including micro-housing.

Finally, Nedia Morsy of Make the Road New Jersey—a grassroots, member-led organization of immigrant and working-class people—underscored the importance of tenant protections to address the discrimination and exploitation her members disproportionately face in the housing market. As rents continue to increase in New Jersey, the vulnerability of cost-burdened renters also increases. And while immigrant families are more likely to live in multigenerational households, that should ultimately be a choice, rather than a last resort for residents who have forfeited tenant protections due to their income level or immigration status.

Policy and Program Recommendations

As Luis Ortiz stated, intergenerational households bring different perspectives to a community and foster a supportive, inviting environment. In his work, he sees families outside, utilizing the public spaces and parks, and growing together. Dean Dafis agreed that returning to previous housing cultures strengthens community bonds. To foster intergenerational living, allow for more types of homes, and ensure that everyone has a safe, affordable place to live, the panelists offered the following recommendations for municipal and state officials and planners:

Pass zoning reforms to allow for more density, the construction of “missing middle” housing and accessory dwelling units, and the types of “flex home” design elements to build spaces for intergenerational households.
Center the voices of New Jersey’s immigrant families and older residents in developing public policies and programs.
Fund new programs and expand existing ones that support both renter and owner households in achieving housing stability and homeownership, including the Housing Choice Voucher Home Ownership Program, downpayment assistance programs, and educational programs for individuals and families.
Incentivize and assist with utility and appliance upgrades and energy efficiency to provide safe, healthier environments for multiple generations sharing a space.
Bring different stakeholders together and have policy conversations in the community because the reforms needed to achieve system change are too complicated for any individual or group to address on their own.
Prevent displacement and strengthen tenant protections through rent control laws, land trusts, tenant organizing, and ultimately, the collective ownership of buildings.

As New Jersey’s demographics change, we need to challenge our assumption of what a “traditional household” looks like and rethink the types of developments and programs that will meet the housing needs of our state’s diverse residents. We need to create more housing choices at all income levels for various household compositions, including intergenerational housing models.