On Saturday, January 26, we were shuttled over to Downtown to commence our tour of affordable housing in Downtown and North Park. Before going on this tour, I had a fair share of knowledge about what transitional housing and needs-based reduced cost (affordable) housing looked like and what it entailed, but I didn't understand the whole scope of the problem, especially for seniors on the brink of homelessness. The national poverty line was set in 1955 and has only gone up slightly to cover inflation, and this is nowhere near the Elder Economic Index of what it actually costs for a Senior to sustain permanent housing in San Diego. For many places with affordable housing, the requirement is that Seniors have to be below the poverty line, and it is based on a vulnerability index VI-SPDAT. However, there are some places that are first come first serve basis, and also places that do not require the VI-SPDAT. For instance, the Serving Seniors housing called Potiker Residence, no VI-SPDAT is required for entry, and the only actual requirement is that the Senior is over the age of 62. The Serra Francis and The New Palace hotels are Single Room Occupancy and they provide transitional housing to Seniors based on a vulnerability index. The PATH housing has a mix of emergency and permanent housing that includes access to harm reduction services. Some of the affordable housing complexes, like Atmosphere and North Park Seniors, look like your everyday, nice apartment complexes and would never think twice that they are affordable housing. These places are very nice, and while (especially) North Park Seniors does have a lot of internal controls built into the practical functionality of the building for seniors (like color coated floors for people with dementia), the housing facilities often come with extremely long waitlists due to the scarcity of enough affordable housing in San Diego. These affordable housing complexes that we saw should be models for ones to come, and government expenditures should really focus on the paradigm of housing first to prevent more unsheltered homelessness from occurring, especially for the ageing Senior community of San Diego.
EndNote on a GOOD NOTE:
We cannot afford to have more unsheltered Seniors/ Affordable housing, we need more through the measures/ The places already made, make for great models for future/ Better in a room than the streets, regardless of features/ many like-minded people are ready to be the hope dealers/ and make room for more Seniors to age in peaceful leisure
EndNote on a GOOD NOTE:
We cannot afford to have more unsheltered Seniors/ Affordable housing, we need more through the measures/ The places already made, make for great models for future/ Better in a room than the streets, regardless of features/ many like-minded people are ready to be the hope dealers/ and make room for more Seniors to age in peaceful leisure