As far as I can tell, retirement for many gen X who didn't manage to get a property and won't inherit means poverty and homelessness unless they can miraculously keep high-paying work to cover the cost of rent until they die. Their too small pension won't cover the rent by then because rent has risen and is still rising much faster.

Nursing home? They can't afford long term stay due to lack of assets, but what about the decade or two after retirement age when a nursing home wouldn't be appropriate anyway?

Seems to me the renting-class gen Xers approaching retirement are just going to have to keep working long past retirement age, while it gets more and more difficult, and their housing stays precarious because they can't get a mortgage due to age. I think this is a hidden, underappreciated issue because people tend to think of property-owning gen Xers with a paid-off mortgage, and don't realise how many gen X never made it onto the property ladder.