Montgomery County Has 27,274 Senior Housing Units and Beds. 418 Are in Market-Rate Independent-Living Rental Buildings.

Montgomery County has 27,274 age-restricted housing units and beds for older adults, and 418 of them are in market-rate independent-living rental buildings, according to a July 2026 Urban Institute report going to the Montgomery County Planning Board on Thursday, Oct. 29. The Urban Institute report, Aging Well in Place in Montgomery County, Maryland, says the 418 units are “fewer than 2 percent of total supply” (page 41).

Market-rate independent-living rentals are the option for older adults “who no longer wish to own but are not income eligible for subsidized housing,” according to the Urban Institute report, which calls the shortage “a structural hole in the county’s housing continuum” (pages 41-42).

The Urban Institute wrote the report with advice from Montgomery Planning and three other county agencies, according to the Montgomery Planning staff report (page 4).

The kinds of senior housing in Montgomery County, and how many there are

The Urban Institute report counts seven types of age-restricted housing in Montgomery County (Table 5.1, page 42; definitions on pages 40-41):

• Subsidized independent-living apartments: 6,548 units. Subsidized senior apartments are income-restricted rentals for people 55 or 62 and older, with no medical care included.
• Active-adult homeownership communities: 6,310 units. Active-adult communities sell homes or condos to buyers 55 and older and provide no supportive services.
• Continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs): 5,161 units and beds. CCRCs combine 3,243 independent-living units, 921 assisted-living units and 997 skilled nursing beds.
• Assisted living facilities: 3,795 units. Assisted living serves people who need help with daily tasks but not daily nursing care.
• Nursing homes outside CCRCs: 3,561 beds.
• Group homes: 1,481 units. Group homes are small assisted-living homes with 16 or fewer units or beds, licensed by the Maryland Department of Health.
• Market-rate independent-living rentals: 418 units.

What senior housing costs, according to the report

The Urban Institute report uses monthly costs of $5,306 for independent living in Montgomery County (from A Place for Mom), and $8,725 for assisted living and $12,805 for a nursing home in the greater Washington area (from CareScout) (Table 3.1, page 25).

A middle-income Montgomery County homeowner who sells a $475,000 home would have enough to pay for 6.6 years of independent living, 4.0 years of assisted living or 2.8 years of nursing-home care, the Urban Institute report calculates, assuming 11% selling costs and no capital gains taxes (Table 3.1, page 25).

Moderate-income older adults “make too much to qualify for subsidized senior housing and make too little to afford most CCRCs or market-rate assisted living,” the Urban Institute report says (page 42). Developers reported waiting lists of two to five years for the few subsidized units that combine housing and care, according to the report (page 64).

Where senior housing is, and where it is missing

Most of Montgomery County’s age-restricted facilities are in the southeastern corridor, in and around Bethesda, Silver Spring, Rockville and Leisure World, with Leisure World “by far the largest single cluster,” the Urban Institute report found (page 42).

Older adults in northern and western Montgomery County “have significantly fewer nearby options for care, affordable rental housing, or community-based living,” according to the Urban Institute report, though facilities built after 2017 have begun to shift toward Germantown and Gaithersburg (page 42).

Continuing care retirement communities have no presence in Montgomery County’s low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, the Urban Institute report found (executive summary, page x). Assisted living follows a similar pattern: 12% of Montgomery County assisted living facilities are in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, where 22% of households 55 and older live (executive summary, page x). Care-intensive senior housing is “disproportionately concentrated in higher-income and majority-white neighborhoods,” Montgomery Planning’s staff report says (page 7).

Why the report says demand is growing

The share of Montgomery County households headed by someone 65 or older rose from an estimated 21.1% in 2011 to 28.2% in 2024, according to the Urban Institute’s analysis of Census Bureau American Community Survey estimates (page 6). The Census Bureau’s full count happens only every 10 years, so yearly figures like these are survey estimates.

What the report recommends

The Urban Institute report recommends that Montgomery County consider these steps to add senior housing (pages 64-66):

• Give older adults a preference in Moderately Priced Dwelling Unit allocations and other county affordable-housing programs.
• Create an operating subsidy for care services in affordable senior housing, since tax credits can pay for construction but not for ongoing care.
• Make senior housing an explicit priority when houses of worship build affordable housing on their land.
• Extend expedited review, now limited to affordable projects of 50 or more units, to smaller affordable senior housing projects.
• Expand accessory dwelling units (ADUs) for older adults and multigenerational families.

The Urban Institute report also recommends exploring a lower rent-increase cap for older renters, a single county “point of navigation entry” for housing help and universal design rules for new homes (pages 55-56 and 61).

What happens Oct. 29

The Urban Institute senior housing report is Item 5 on the Montgomery County Planning Board’s Oct. 29 agenda, in the morning session that begins at 10:55 a.m. The Oct. 29 agenda says the Planning Board “will receive an overview” of the report and lists the staff recommendation as “Receive the presentation and discuss findings.”

Planning Board meetings are held at 2425 Reedie Drive in Wheaton and streamed live online. The Planning Board’s testimony rules say public testimony “is typically not permitted” on briefings, and residents can email written comments to the Chair’s Office at mcp-chair@mncppc-mc.org.

Montgomery Planning’s staff report says the department “can contribute through research, housing and zoning policy, development review, and community planning” (page 8). The Montgomery Planning staff report, submitted Oct. 21, does not list a timeline for acting on the recommendations. A 2025 Maryland law requires Montgomery County to authorize ADUs by October 2026, and the county was drafting a zoning change in response as of the Urban Institute report’s July publication (page 66).

Where to find help now

• Montgomery County’s Aging & Disability Resource Unit, 240-777-3000, is the county’s “main point of entry for older adults and people with disabilities to access a range of services,” according to the county’s Aging and Disability Services page.
• The same county Aging and Disability Services page lists a Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program and advocacy for residents of nursing homes, assisted living and group homes.
• Montgomery County keeps a list of active neighborhood Villages, volunteer groups that help older residents stay in their homes.

Page numbers are the printed page numbers in the Urban Institute report and the Montgomery Planning staff report.

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