Getting your
Trinity Audioplayer ready...Older Californians are becoming homeless faster than any other age group, advocates told a state commission this week, warning that the state’s housing system is failing people who often need more support than a shelter can provide but do not belong in hospitals or nursing homes.
People with the common issues of aging — chronic medical conditions, cognitive decline, mobility limitations or physical disabilities — can face significant delays in the search for permanent housing, said Genelle Cazares, the chief executive officer of Sacramento-based El Hogar Community Services.
Older adults looking to leave a shelter often need a level of support that falls somewhere between independent living and institutional care, she said.
“That middle ground is missing,” Cazares said.
Almost half of all unhoused single adults in California are 50 or older, and many are experiencing homelessness for the first time, according to data presented at a hearing of the state’s Commission on Aging on Thursday. Advocates said there just isn’t enough affordable housing for this unique population.
There are nearly 85,000 people over 50 who are homeless in the state, officials said. In the Bay Area, where counts of homeless older adults start at age 55, older people make up between 25% and 29% of the homeless population, depending on the county, according ot the most recent reports.
“This is a really big group, and we need to think hard about what we’re going to do for them,” said Harrison Linder, the assistant director of housing policy at LeadingAge California.
Older people often find themselves on the streets after a combination of issues take hold: limited income, decreasing ability to work, increasing health costs and the high cost of housing statewide. Another 3.2 million older Californians struggle to keep a roof over their heads — spending more than 30% of their gross income on housing — according to Linder.
Despite the combined demand of people on the streets and those who need lower-cost housing, there are only 90,000 units of affordable senior housing in California, experts said. The main barrier is cost. A new unit of subsidized affordable housing in the state can cost more than $700,000 to construct.
Santa Clara County’s most recent homelessness report found families with children were more likely to land in shelters or temporary housing, leaving older adults without children more likely to remain unsheltered.
Steve Gaskill, 61, was one of the lucky few people over 55 to land in affordable housing. He’s the youngest resident of Wong Center Senior Apartments in Sacramento, he told the committee Thursday.
He was delivering Grubhub orders, making just enough to pay his $1,300 rent — and then the rent increased. That’s when Gaskill started applying online for affordable housing and landed at the senior apartments.
“We’re still alive, and we need a little help to maintain our dignity,” he said of himself and neighbors struggling to afford California’s expensive housing market.
But not every story looks like Gaskill, and more older adults end up on the street before their housing applications are accepted — and that can complicate their ability to get help later, experts said. The combination of age and homelessness compounds what for others may be common problems.
“The effects of aging are magnified when an older adult is living on the street,” said Dr David Lindeman, chair of the California Commission on Aging and longtime director of UC Berkeley’s CITRIS Health Initiative.
People experiencing homelessness often show signs of “accelerated aging,” developing age-related health conditions years earlier than their housed peers, according to research indexed in the National Library of Medicine. The cumulative effects of chronic stress, exposure to the elements, untreated medical conditions, poor nutrition and limited access to healthcare can lead to the early onset of geriatric conditions such as cognitive impairment, mobility limitations and frailty.
As a result, adults experiencing homelessness often appear older than their age. A 50-year-old experiencing homelessness may exhibit the health characteristics and functional limitations typically seen in a housed person at age 70 — and that only gets worse with age.
Older adults frequently remain in hospitals, shelters, temporary placements and other costly settings, said Cazares, longer than necessary because appropriate housing options are scarce.