Among Californians experiencing housing insecurity, adults over the age of 50 are the fastest growing demographic. A new report released in late June by the Marin County Civil Grand Jury found that older seniors priced out of housing now constitute a substantive share of the region’s homeless population.
The influx of older adults falling into homelessness continues to outpace the efforts of the county and community organizations, the jury found. Instead of preventing homelessness, the county’s approach focuses on mitigating its impacts, it argued.
In the report, titled “Older Adults on the Brink of Homelessness: Time to Act is Now,” the volunteer investigative panel called on the county to address the severe shortage of affordable housing to prevent seniors on fixed incomes from slipping into homelessness.
“A new, updated system that addresses the needs of older adults on the precipice of homelessness is urgently needed,” the jury wrote.
The report marked the fifth of its kind, following similar findings and recommendations dating back to 2007.
This year’s jury elected to conduct another investigation “due to the worsening housing crisis in Marin and its effects on vulnerable older adult women and men.”
Constructing low-income housing in Marin is fraught with difficulties, including major regulatory hurdles, NIMBY obstructionism and high real estate costs. Even with tax incentives, the cost of development and community opposition have earned the county a reputation among developers as the hardest in California in which to build affordable housing. Combined with the cost of living, the resulting scarcity of options hits seniors hard.
“As the cost of living continues to rise, many older adults on fixed incomes cannot keep up with the cost of utilities, groceries, and health care expenses,” the report says. “Property loss due to high mortgages, taxes, and home ownership maintenance is affecting more and more older long-term Marin residents.”
The challenges faced by older adults are particularly acute in West Marin, where the absence of shelters, limited availability of subsidized housing compared to other parts of the county, and insufficient public transportation exacerbate the issue, said Chandra Alexander, the C.E.O. of Community Action Marin.
In Marin, 45 percent of the homeless population is over the age of 45, and 21 percent first experienced homelessness after turning 50, Ms. Alexander said.
Legal Aid of Marin is seeing a rapid increase in the number of older renters on fixed incomes who age into poverty and housing insecurity, said Lucie Hollingsworth, an attorney specializing in homelessness and tenant eviction.
Seniors on a limited allowance are often unable to keep up with rent escalation.
“We’ve seen an increase in older adults facing homelessness since the pandemic era protections ended at the end of 2022,” Ms. Hollingsworth said.
Meredith Parnelle, the chief program officer of the St. Vincent De Paul Society of Marin, said the solution to homelessness is housing. Yet in Marin, the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment is nearly $3,000, while even a single bedroom in a shared house can cost $1,300.
The county’s 2022 point-in-time count, the annual tally of those who live outside or in homeless shelters, revealed that 78 percent of people experiencing homelessness were Marin residents prior to losing their housing.
“If you’re on a fixed income of social security, you can’t even afford a room in this county,” Ms. Parnelle said.
She compared the dilemma facing her clients to a modern-day Scylla and Charybdis: “The choice we seem to be offering folks living on fixed incomes in this community is either we can find you a roof over your head that you can afford, which means we have to send you far away, not to Sonoma, not to the East Bay, but to Inyo or Butte. But you will not know a person and we will condemn you to a death of social isolation.
“Or you can stay here in Marin,” she continued. “And you can live in your car, but you’ll have your doctor. You’ll have your faith community. You’ll know where to get food, and you’ll have a sense of community.”