A two-year pilot program to reduce homelessness among older adults was unanimously approved last week by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.
Through the program, which will cost about $311,000, the county will match lower-income older adults with home owners or renters in San Diego County who have a spare bedroom, aiming to decrease the housing costs for seniors, who are one of the fastest-growing demographics of newly unhoused people in the region.
To qualify, applicants must be 55 or older and can earn up to 120 percent of the area median income — or $98,100, annually — but the county seeks to help the most vulnerable older adults, such as those who are unhoused. Rent for the program is capped at 30 percent of the person’s monthly income, and service exchange could be allowed (but not required) as a way to reduce rent.
Those providing rooms to rent are required to have homes within San Diego County and be current with utility, taxes and rent or mortgage payments.
Last year’s homeless count found that their were 2,670 people aged 55 years and older experiencing homelessness and, of those, 1,500 people were unsheltered. In 2021, a Serving Seniors survey found that 45 percent of unhoused older adults were experiencing homelessness for the first time in their lives.
The San Diego Seniors Community Foundation reports that 55.8 percent of older adult renters in San Diego County don’t have enough money to keep up with their bills.
“Older adults living on a fixed income are more vulnerable to losing their home,” said David Estrella, director of the county’s Housing and Community Development Services. “This program is a way to catch a senior before they fall through the cracks in this challenging housing market.”
The program is also expected to reduce feelings of social isolation, which studies have shown can be just as dangerous as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.
While the two-year pilot was originally planned to launch at the end of this year and match a total of 50 people with housing — 25 people each year — the supervisors pushed for a faster timeline with a greater number of participants.
“This is very urgent and I do think that we have the resources and the expertise to move at a faster pace,” Supervisor Monica Montgomery-Steppe said during the meeting.
More than a dozen people spoke during public comments for the measure, including Ellen Nash, chair for the San Diego Chapter of the Black American Political Association of California. She suggested the county employ culturally competent caseworkers to coordinate the housing program to help seniors from diverse communities feel more comfortable with the initiative.
“Shared housing is not an easy lift. It’s a heavy lift convincing seniors, particularly, to share space with other seniors. I don’t want that to be a barrier,” Nash said.
With the number of seniors living in the region expected to eclipse 1 million by 2030, this is not the first program of its kind in San Diego County.
ElderHelp of San Diego has a HomeShare program that matches seniors with home providers, many of whom are seniors or adults with disabilities. The average monthly rent for these matches is $609, but some lessors provide rooms in exchange for services, such as help with yard work, meal preparation, housekeeping and companionship.
Anya Delacruz, ElderHelp associate executive director, said that the nonprofit has made about 1,100 matches helping more than 2,200 people since the program launched nearly three decades ago.
Last year, the county launched a rent subsidy pilot program that provides $500 per month to eligible adults over 55 years for 18 months to help them stabilize their finances.
