Abstract Background and Objectives Addressing the severe care vacuum in rural China, this study investigates Self-Organized Care Homes for older adults (SOCHs)—informal, resident-operated facilities providing 24-hour care within adapted farmhouses. We explore how these grassroots institutions operate in the “grey space” between legality and informality and assess their implications for sustainable aging-in-place in resource-scarce contexts. Research Design and Methods Guided by an integrated institution—space—experience framework, we conducted a multi-site ethnography across 14 SOCHs in rural Shanghai. Data from spatial documentation, semi-structured interviews (n = 58), and non-participant observation were analyzed through inductive-abductive thematic analysis to delineate the linkages among institutional constraints, spatial bricolage, and lived experience. Results SOCHs’ resilience stems from a synergy of subsistence rationality, spatial and social bricolage, and kinship-based trust, which collectively foster quasi-familial environments that enhance older people’s autonomy, dignity, and belonging. Crucially, this resilience is intrinsically tied to a condition of “sustained precariousness,” as the very institutional ambiguity enabling their existence also perpetuates their systemic vulnerability. Discussion and Implications The study proposes “institutional grayness” as a structural condition and “frugal aging-in-place” as a resource-mobilizing paradigm, extending the person–environment fit model to incorporate institutional affordances. We argue for policies of strategic incorporation that equilibrate necessary regulation with operational flexibility to safeguard residents without stifling grassroots innovation. These findings contribute to global debates on informality, care justice, and resilience in later life.
Zhang et al. (2026) studied this question.