As Rents Rise, Seniors Seek Upgrades

By Ronald W. Powell, the Union Tribune

October 23, 2008 

If low-income seniors in City Heights have to accept higher rents, they want their environment spruced up – and they're taking steps to do it.

Tenants at City Heights Square apartments are pushing for improvements as they try to stretch their fixed incomes to cover rent increases that took effect this month. 

They want benches and tables – both in the building's indoor courtyard and outside – so residents have a place to gather and talk. They want vending machines for snacks, and change machines for the coin-operated washers. And they want an activity program

“We're going to do what we can do to make things better,” said Marian Cooper, president of the recently formed tenants association. 

Paul Downey, chief executive of Senior Community Centers of San Diego, said he is willing to consider the tenants' requests and is scheduled to meet with them Wednesday. He is making no promises, but said some of the requests, like the benches and tables, seem reasonable. 

There is nothing he can do, however, about lowering rents. The new rents, he said, are final. 

Senior Community Centers spun off two nonprofit development arms to build and oversee City Heights Square and Potiker Family Senior Residence in the East Village. This month, they raised the rents on each – from an additional $13 to $54 at City Heights and more than $70 on some Potiker studio units. 

Downey said other nonprofit housing developers across the state are also having to charge more for rents to scrape together money for services that used to be paid by donations. He said giving has dropped in the sputtering economy.
 
The federal government also bears some of the blame, he said. Each year, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development sets the maximum rents that can be charged on subsidized housing based on the local median income. Operators of the housing developments can set rents up to that threshold. 

Downey said the threshold had not risen much in recent years, but took a sharp jump this year. That allowed operators of the low-income developments to increase rents and tenant anxiety, which he said could have been avoided if the uptick in the threshold had been more gradual. 

Downey said the rent increases are needed to pay for meals and social services his organization provides the two senior developments. Those costs are not covered by rents, he said. 

At the 150-unit City Heights Square, for instance, meals and social services amount to $303,000 a year. That includes preparation, transportation and delivery of lunches, which costs $136,500. Residents are asked to give a “suggested donation” of $2.50 for each lunch. 

An additional $152,100 at City Heights goes to pay for a full-time social worker and full-time service coordinator, and part-time workers including a nurse, a rehabilitation specialist, a licensed clinical social worker, a registered nurse supervisor and a registered dietitian-supervisor. 

“These are things that we're not required to provide, but we do so because we think seniors need these services,” Downey said. 

That provides no solace to seniors worried about having enough for rent. 
Jana Goodman, 65, saw her rent jump to $632 a month from $578. She lives on $850 a month in Social Security and Supplemental Security Income disbursements. She said she and other seniors might have been better able to handle the increased rent if it occurred in January, when Social Security recipients will receive a 5.8 percent increase on their checks. 

“I'd asked that the increase be put off until then because it makes more sense,” said Goodman, a retired lawyer. “But they couldn't wait.” 

At the 200-unit Potiker, Sandra Sharp, 62, a retired mortgage broker, said she prays she can hang on until January. Her rent increased to $623 a month from $552. In an interview this week, she said she had $1.30 left until she receives her Social Security check on Nov. 1. 

“When I was a mortgage broker, I was a good one,” said Sharp, who has survived four heart attacks. “I wouldn't work in subprime loans; I always did things the right way.” 

She said she has no family to help her, nowhere to turn. 

“This is ridiculous,” she said. “What are you supposed to do?”

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