Comment by armchairhacker

tl;dr: retirement benefits and children

Why should the typical old person or couple have a large home all to themselves?

I think (in a semi ideal world) individuals and couples should be entitled to small apartments or tiny houses, which would be cheap enough for an old person on retirement benefits. An average American home is for a family: as the parents age, some of their kids start financing the home, while other kids may move living spaces, or everyone splits up and the house goes to a new family (presumably a couple moving from a small apartment).