Finding a way to fight homelessness for older adults
Following discussions on the need for a focus on prevention in addressing older adult homelessness in the Older Adult Committee of the Marin County Homeless Policy Steering Committee, the committee voted in February of 2022 to elect Front Porch Communities and Services to a newly minted seat to represent the homeless prevention sector of the homelessness services network.
The county's increased focus on homelessness among older adults and the need for homelessness prevention work is rooted in a startling rise in older adult homelessness in recent years.
According to the Homeless Data Integration System, while homelessness in California increased by 7% between 2017 and 2021, the number of people over the age of 55 who accessed homelessness services increased by a staggering 84%. Moreover, these numbers don't account for the many older adults who are displaced from the community as the only means of avoiding homelessness.
Though the number of unhoused older adults is increasing rapidly, older adults have not been prioritized in the way that youth, families and veterans have been. As a result, homelessness services addressing the particular needs of older adults are few and far between.
Most waitlists for affordable housing communities in Marin County are closed, and the few that are open have wait times of over five years. Due to these circumstances, the hard truth for low-income older adults facing homelessness is that — as the county's coordinated entry system is presently designed — they will likely have to be homeless for over a year, and thus become classified as “chronically homeless,” before having any chance of being prioritized for long-term subsidized housing interventions such as a Section 8 voucher or permanent supportive housing.
County offices responsible for addressing the homelessness crisis, as well as service providers, understand the devastating impacts of homelessness on mental, emotional, and physical health for anyone, let alone someone who is in their 80s, and the increased difficulty of stably housing individuals who are struggling with the health impacts of homelessness.
The homelessness services community is working hard to find ways to keep older adults in our community from experiencing homelessness in the first place.
Front Porch's Home Match program is an example of a program focused on addressing housing precarity among older adults before they become unhoused.
Home Match facilitates home sharing relationships between precariously housed home providers — most of whom are low-income, female-identifying, single-member households in need of economic and social support to remain housed — and precariously housed community members, including older adults living on a lowfixed income, low-wage local employees and students who are seeking affordable housing options.
Home Match and other community-based programs like the Marin Villages illustrate the power of community relationships in empowering older adults to age in place with health and dignity.
Rent subsidies are another important homelessness prevention intervention. That being said, subsidy models like rapid rehousing grants and emergency rental assistance programs were designed under the assumption that housing instability is caused by a short term increase in cost or decrease in income, and that once housing is stabilized the individual will once again be able to afford rent.
These models are unsuited to the needs of older adults and people with disabilities who are living on a low-fixed income. Organizations like Home Match are thus piloting “shallow rent subsidies” that will provide ongoing rent support for older adults who are unlikely to see a meaningful increase in income over time.
The term “wicked problem” has been coined to describe problems that have multiple causes and, thus, no single solution. Utopia has never been a single step away.
Housing affordability and the associated rise in homelessness among older adults has many causes, and we won't end homelessness with a single solution, but we do have the ability to make marked strides in that direction.
The county's efforts to work with homelessness prevention providers to expand services that address housing precarity before someone becomes unhoused is a commonsensical step toward a happier, healthier, more equitable and sustainable Marin County — not only for older adults, but also for children, grandchildren and everyone else in the community whose lives are enriched by the presence of our elders.
Most waitlists for affordable housing communities in Marin County are closed, and the few that are open have wait times of over five years.