Changes need to be made to these laws (or at the very least, a moratorium) during this period of affordable housing crisis.
This would allow many more opportunities for older women to find immediate housing. Social Security law regarding income derived from boarders & lodgers, as it stands, is antiquated (eg: see the use of $30 per week as a monetary example of income from board and lodging). By classing payment for board and/or lodgings as ‘income’ someone on a pension offering a room to a boarder could lose as much as 50 cents in the dollar from their pension, need to do a tax return and perhaps lose pensioner discounts on such things as council rates.
See
Social Security Guide 4.3.8.40 Income from boarders or lodgers