Home ownership no longer an indicator of financial security, says study lead
A study conducted by two University of Calgary sociologists has shed light on housing insecurity amongst older adults in Alberta.
Dr. Alex Bierman , PhD, a professor, and Fahimeh Mehrabi, a PhD candidate, both in the Department of Sociology , conducted the Finances, Aging, and Daily Experiences Study in January 2026 in association with the Angus Reid Group.
The study was a representative survey looking to understand the financial conditions and daily life of older adults in Alberta, aged 65 to 85.
Results challenge assumptions
While still early in digging into the data, Bierman noticed the results challenged basic assumptions about homeowners in Alberta.
"What we found was homeowners were nowhere as close to financially secure as many people assume," says Bierman. "There’s a general assumption that homeowners will be financially secure because they own their homes outright, but what we found was people who owned their own homes outright still experienced financial insecurity."
The survey found that 34.4 per cent of respondents who owned their homes were worried about the costs of keeping up their homes, and 16.6 per cent of respondents said they had considered selling their homes due to financial need.
In comparison, 21.3 per cent of older adults who do not own their homes outright, renters and mortgagors, said they could not pay their rent or mortgage, and 14.5 per cent were worried about being evicted or foreclosed on.
"This is not a surprising finding, but this is a substantial group of older adults who feel housing insecure," says Mehrabi.
That translates to about 40,000 older adults in Alberta who have experienced trouble paying their mortgage or rent.
High degree of vulnerability in older Albertans
"The surprise in the data was that it doesn’t seem that people who own their home outright are much less vulnerable, there’s just a high degree of vulnerability when it comes to housing insecurity among older adults in Alberta today," says Bierman.
To address this, Bierman says there needs to be a reconsideration among policy makers that home ownership equals financial security.
A home represents a locked in financial asset, as it can be difficult to access equity in a home because older adults still need a place to live.
"You need a place to live, so you can’t easily gain the wealth you have accrued in your home," explains Bierman.
Changing policy could provide better support
Policy changes like indexed income supports could provide better support for older adults as inflation increases and challenges paying for daily life increase.
This survey is an extension of a previous study Bierman had conducted that was looking at financial stress and well-being among older Canadian adults. He had found a high level of financial stress in that demographic.
Following up with a study looking at older Alberta adults, Bierman wanted to know if the substantial number of older Albertans who owned their homes were financially secure.
"We’re trying to challenge across the board this idea that if we get people to own their own homes, they will be financially secure," says Bierman. "It’s not that simple, it turns out."
