Keeping seniors in their homes is one of the next big challenges for housing advocates.
Seniors are among the fastest growing populations in New York, and many are homeowners. But they face unique challenges: their housing stock is aging, requiring costly repairs, and they may need retrofits to allow them to “age in place,” such as no-step showers and wheelchair-accessible entrances. A further challenge for senior homeowners is that they often rely on fixed incomes to get by. In this context, affordable housing is a critical need for those who who want to retire in the communities where they’ve lived for years or decades.
The number of seniors in New York City is expected to grow from 1.2 million to 1.8 million over the next 15 years. In response, the Center, along with five community-based partner organizations, is piloting a program to coordinate services to help senior homeowners. Our goal is to raise awareness, build partnerships and minimize service gaps, while focusing on isolated seniors and linking them to resources before they face a crisis.
This is only the start of a long-term effort to address the needs of senior homeowners that must also include legal services for bankruptcy, deed theft prevention and estate planning, as well as financial counseling and repairs.
Fellow housing advocates are also working at the state level to address seniors’ needs.
Enterprise Community Partners, for instance, is calling for the State to allocate funding in this year’s budget for a new Senior Affordable Housing Program that would invest $50 million over five years on new senior housing; $4.5 million for rental assistance for low-income families in private housing; and $10 million for coordinators to help seniors age in the homes of their choice.
Judi Kende, vice president and New York market leader at Enterprise, wrote in the Albany Times-Union earlier this month that even as housing costs have increased, social security payments (often the only source of income for low-income seniors) have not kept pace.
“These statistics are more than numbers; they are our parents, our grandparents, our neighbors,” Kende wrote.
Image credit: Flickr / Chris Goldberg