FOCUS:  Senior Housing

We are completely unprepared to meet the housing needs of the fastest growing group in our community –- seniors.

Today, only two affordable senior housing projects are in the planning stage:Peace Village in Fairfax andWhistlestop in San Rafael. Even if both are completed as currently proposed within the next 2-5 years, we would be adding only about 100 units intended for seniors. This number is woefully inadequate considering that Marin’s senior population is expected to grow by 850 souls every year. By 2040 over 67,000 Marin residents will be 65 or older, a 58% increase from 2010.

Marin’s median age of 45.1 years makes us the oldest community in the Bay Area, 7 years older than the Bay Area as a whole. Given that 41% of the county’s residents are over 50 now, these trends will continue.

Here are a few more statistics to think about:

• Fully 27% of the homes in the county have a householder 65 or older.
• Of these households, 1,846 people – or 6.5% – had incomes below the poverty line.
• Over 25% of the 46,638 county residents who are 65 or older have a disability.

As a group, Marin seniors’ housing needs are predictable. As seniors age and leave the workforce, incomes tend to drop precipitously. When they retire, seniors are often priced out of the market if they want to relocate. Many are house-rich but cash-poor. Even if the mortgage is paid off (rare these days), limited-income seniors often can’t afford the upkeep on their homes. And, because of rising real estate and rental prices, even moving to a smaller unit may not help them, because the cost of owning or renting a new home may be even greater than what they are currently spending, effectively locking them out of the smaller, more efficient, barrier-free housing that seniors need as they age.

And we’re only talking about those who are able to live independently, without integrated health care and personal services that are available only through the limited assisted living and nursing homes located in Marin.

Unless we act now, many seniors will be forced to choose between living at or below the poverty level at a diminished quality of life, or leaving their homes and community in Marin when they retire. Many of them have been active members of congregations, have raised their children in Marin, and have made substantial contributions to the fabric of our beautiful county. In fact, they are PART of the fabric of our county.

Here’s what MEHC supports to meet our aging population’s housing needs:

• Smaller attached and detached housing for independent living, including both market rate and below market rate
• Second units and junior second units
• Age-restricted subsidized rental housing
• Shared housing
• A variety of assisted living housing including congregate care, licensed facilities and skilled nursing homes

With only two senior housing projects in the works, Marin is far behind the curve in meeting the needs of the fastest growing group in the community. It is time to insist that our county, cities and towns roll up their sleeves to address this already critical problem, before the Marin we used to know and love turns gray and disappears.