Within the midst of L.A.’s housing disaster, one truth ought to be ringing alarm bells: Seniors are estimated to be the fastest-growing section of California’s homeless inhabitants. The common month-to-month Social Safety profit of $1,907 doesn’t cowl the standard month-to-month hire of a one-bedroom condominium in Los Angeles. As America’s inhabitants ages and the price of residing continues to rise, the challenges confronted by seniors on fastened incomes will seemingly worsen.
This subject hits near residence for me. Professionally, I spend a lot of my time with seniors who worry dropping their houses. Personally, as I watch my very own dad and mom and grandparents age, I fear about how we are going to handle their bills sooner or later. In Los Angeles, the median month-to-month price of residing at an assisted residing facility or nursing residence exceeds $5,000 and $10,000, respectively. Seniors considering shifting into considered one of these amenities fear about draining financial savings they meant to make use of for medical prices or to cross all the way down to relations. However for these liable to falls or different well being emergencies, remaining alone of their houses could be harmful.
One answer is shared housing applications that pair senior householders with suitable roommates. Along with making vacant rooms in single-family houses obtainable to these looking for reasonably priced housing, any such system gives a wide range of different advantages together with added revenue for householders and companionship to offset loneliness (which is related to elevated threat of dementia). Additionally they enable seniors to keep up independence as they age.
The crew I work with lately matched a renter in her 70s who was coping with isolation due to restricted walkability in her neighborhood. She had mobility challenges and didn’t personal a automobile, so she couldn’t run errands on her personal. We related her with one other senior in her 70s, a house owner struggling to cowl residing bills. The match supplied the tenant with reasonably priced hire and introduced her nearer to important facilities, and it gave the home-owner extra revenue, a mutually helpful association that helped every obtain housing stability and a few independence.
Policymakers engaged on the housing disaster ought to critically think about growing funding within the shared housing mannequin. In Los Angeles, one doable supply of funding is cash collected from Measure ULA, an actual property switch tax on properties valued at $5 million or extra that handed in 2022. This measure has generated greater than $200 million since taking impact in April 2023, a few of which might be used for shared housing applications.
By utilizing Measure ULA funds, present shared housing applications might be expanded, and with extra employees, devoted groups may serve every Los Angeles council district, serving to determine extra obtainable rooms and serving to match seniors in want. Moreover, these funds might be used to determine a senior rental subsidy program. Individuals would contribute a portion of their revenue towards hire, with a rental subsidy voucher masking the rest, to make sure landlords or householders obtain truthful market hire. This would supply instant reduction for seniors collaborating, permitting them to bypass prolonged ready lists for Part 8 vouchers.
Nonprofit organizations throughout California, together with Entrance Porch within the Bay Space and Homeless Intervention Companies of Orange County, have proven that the shared housing mannequin works and may change lives. However for these applications to assist the growing variety of seniors going through housing insecurity, political leaders should step in with monetary help. In Los Angeles, funds from Measure ULA generally is a place to begin, serving to residents keep away from housing stress throughout their golden years.
Avi Kapur manages the shared housing program on the Los Angeles nonprofit Inexpensive Dwelling for the Growing old.
