|
|
Doors Close for Seniors Seeking Housing
By Joy L. Woodson, The Advocate
August 1, 2005
Waiting lists for subsidized senior housing are often long or closed for years, and apartment managers say more needs to be done to increase affordable housing for the elderly.
At Cross Road Residence, where there are 24 units, 45 people are waiting. At Shippan Place, about 100 people are on a closed waiting list.
The Stamford Housing Authority, which has the greatest number of senior facilities, has a waiting list of more than 300 elderly or disabled people.
"This is during a time when the baby boomers are gradually becoming elderly, so there's a looming crisis," Housing Authority Executive Director Richard Fox said. "We have more and more people in the graying of America with less housing being produced than it was 10 to 15 years ago."
Stamford residents 50 and older represented slightly more than 30 percent of the population in 2003. Residents 65 and older were 14 percent of the Stamford population; nationally it was about 12 percent.
According to the U.S. Census, one of the fastest-growing population segments is those over 85. It is expected to grow from 4.2 million in 2000 to nearly 21 million in 2050.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development lately has put aside public housing for seniors to focus on producing low-income tax credits, which are given to developers to create low-cost buildings, and Section 202, which provides construction loan subsidies. HUD subsidizes 15 senior facilities in Stamford.
According to HUD, Belltown Manor on Burdick Street was the last senior building the agency subsidized in 1993. Willard Manor on Vine Road and Cross Road Residence were subsidized in the 1980s.
The Connecticut Housing Finance Authority and the Department of Economic and Community Development have funded housing but have lagged in building subsidies for the elderly.
The last building funded with state subsidies in Stamford was The Atlantic in 1997, according to property managers and senior service providers. There, people usually wait two years for an open apartment that costs $460 a month.
"It's consistently a big demand," said Roberta Ratcliff, director of Senior Services of Stamford. "I think as . . . rents keep going higher and higher, there are more and more seniors on fixed incomes that can't afford market-rate rents, and often what they will do is exhaust their savings to pay for their rents."
Richard Rogers, 65, said if he didn't have a retirement check, he couldn't pay for groceries or housing. He waited two years for his efficiency apartment at Czescik Homes, operated by the Housing Authority. It wasn't until he began getting dialysis treatments that he was pushed to the front, Rogers said.
"It's kind of hard to find something, especially when you get a certain age," Rogers said. "What they're putting up is too expensive, especially with the incomes (seniors) get. If you're retired with just Social Security, it's not enough to pay the rent."
Judy Kaufman, manager at Willard Manor on Vine Road, said callers become "agitated" and "panicked" when they are turned away. She opened the waiting list for a few days earlier this year, a method that keeps the number of apartment seekers manageable. At one point, she had no vacancies for 18 months.
"Most of them are really desperate and I have nothing for them, nor will I in the immediate future," Kaufman said.
At Cross Road Residence, where tenants pay $112 to $850 a month, manager Julia VanElls said she could rent two more buildings if they were constructed. She suggested using zoning rules that increase building density, converting old schools into senior housing, and approving accessory apartment units, which are illegal in Stamford.
Fox, the housing authority director, said seniors have to become more politically savvy, making their representatives "accountable for providing decent, safe and sanitary housing. It's unfortunate that the lack of availability pushes some residents to pay high nursing home fees when independent subsidized housing will do."
Dorothy Dowling, 60, who lives in a home with her husband, said not everyone is as fortunate. Some residents likely will die waiting for housing, she said.
"The problem is, what does somebody do in the meantime?" Dowling asked. "You can't assume that everyone has a house that they can stay in the rest of their
lives."
|
|
