Due to the current housing crisis, a great number of Americans who need to move into retirement or assisted living facilities are stranded in their own homes, unable to sell them. This is one of greatest problems of the recession and seniors are no exception.

According to many independent studies, residency rates for independent and assisted facilities have significantly dropped about 2%, although some facilities in certain hard hit areas have a vacancy rate as high as 20 or 30%. Some facilities, seeing their waiting lists vacancy rates fluctuate, have hired real estate agents to assist potential residents in selling their current homes.

Statistics are showing that the housing market’s collapse is putting an unsettling amount of Americans in the terrible position of having to choose between paying their housing bills or paying their healthcare bills. For people to borrow against their homes to help manage other bills is nothing new, but with home values declining and interest rates skyrocketing, some patients who find themselves in debt are now at the risk of losing their homes because of the overwhelming cost of medical bills. Some are even dropping their healthcare altogether just to hang on to their homes.

Making an accurate depiction of how many people are being forced to choose between their mortgage payments and their medical bills can prove to be a difficult task. However, some financial institutions are claiming that medical issues are becoming an increasing reason why some people are beginning to fall behind on their financial obligations.

Most financial experts agree that urging people to refinance a mortgage or use their home equity to pay off medical bills is not the best route to take. If a hospital or medical provider wants to put a lien on a patient’s home, they must first obtain a court order and generally do not receive payment until after the home has been sold. At any rate, hospitals are often reluctant to use strategies such as this for fear of bad publicity.

Assisted living marketing services are provided by 800seniors.com a leading referral system in the assisted living industry. For more information, call 1-800-768-8221. Sky Palma is a freelance staff writer