My first site visit with the 2017-18 Life Course scholars (LCS), instructional assistants, and professors took place on Saturday, November 18th,2017. Upon meeting on campus at 8:30 am, we got on a shuttle that was our transportation to different affordable housing sites for older adults in downtown San Diego.
Our first stop was the Potiker Family Residence, a home and service center for many homeless and low-income seniors with special needs and/or at risk of homelessness. I truly appreciate the organization’s dedication to improving holistic quality of life for seniors with financial challenges through affordable studios, meals, recreational activities, and health care (including oral health care that is often overlooked). We were invited into one of the residents’ studio and greeted by the resident himself. Considering the affordable rent and location in downtown San Diego, the studio was more spacious and better maintained than I expected. We then visited Sara Frances Hometel to learn about the single-room occupancy (SRO) model. The single rooms here were very small (the room we visited was only a little bigger than the small bed it housed) with poor air ventilation, and many rooms were rundown. These rooms may be uncomfortable for some people, especially those with claustrophobia, to live in. For many others, however, a single room like these is all they need. Indeed, the Sara Frances Hometel has become home to many people, including seniors, who struggle financially. The hometel is strategically located near many resource centers, including healthcare facility, and public transportation routes so that seniors living in affordable homes have access to different resources. Prior to participating in the LCS program, I did not pay much attention to the location of a construction and its relation to the surrounding neighborhood. This housing tour not only exposed me to the living conditions of many seniors who rely on meager income from Social Security to get by in a city with high cost of living, but also allowed me to see how much effort and strategic planning is put into constructing a building with a specific purpose.
After many stops along the way, we visited an LGBTQ-affirming building that was still under construction in Hillcrest. This development aims to provide seniors in the LGBTQ community with a safe and affordable place to live because many LGBTQ people do not have children and thus lack family support during old age. Here we learned about the process of constructing an affordable housing model, from sketching the ideas on paper and recruiting participants to considering finance options and constructing the building.
The first housing tour with the LCS was an eye-opening experience for me as I learned about different affordable housing models for the elderly and witnessed the living conditions of many seniors in San Diego.
Prior to the program, I had limited knowledge of the lives of seniors as I had little interaction with older adults other than my grandparents (and I have to admit I do not have the strongest communication with my grandparents). As my family comes from Vietnam, they have different expectations for aging than the American population. An example is that in my family, children are expected to take care of their parents during old age (care encompasses both financial and physical care) – my grandparents now live with some of their children, and my parents expect to live with at least one of their children in old age. On the other hand, many seniors in America live independently of their children. Through the LCS program, I hope to learn about the experience of aging for multicultural people living in San Diego. Moreover, I hope that by interacting with older adults and implementing a healthy aging project, I can learn valuable lessons from their experiences and foster meaningful relationships with older generations in a society that is highly segregated by age.
Another reason I joined the LCS program is to gain insight into the impact of public policies (such as policies on health insurance social security) and sociocultural structure on the process of aging and wellness of seniors. Through the program, I hope to increase my sensitivity to political and social issues that affect our aging population and health care for the elderly.
Our first stop was the Potiker Family Residence, a home and service center for many homeless and low-income seniors with special needs and/or at risk of homelessness. I truly appreciate the organization’s dedication to improving holistic quality of life for seniors with financial challenges through affordable studios, meals, recreational activities, and health care (including oral health care that is often overlooked). We were invited into one of the residents’ studio and greeted by the resident himself. Considering the affordable rent and location in downtown San Diego, the studio was more spacious and better maintained than I expected. We then visited Sara Frances Hometel to learn about the single-room occupancy (SRO) model. The single rooms here were very small (the room we visited was only a little bigger than the small bed it housed) with poor air ventilation, and many rooms were rundown. These rooms may be uncomfortable for some people, especially those with claustrophobia, to live in. For many others, however, a single room like these is all they need. Indeed, the Sara Frances Hometel has become home to many people, including seniors, who struggle financially. The hometel is strategically located near many resource centers, including healthcare facility, and public transportation routes so that seniors living in affordable homes have access to different resources. Prior to participating in the LCS program, I did not pay much attention to the location of a construction and its relation to the surrounding neighborhood. This housing tour not only exposed me to the living conditions of many seniors who rely on meager income from Social Security to get by in a city with high cost of living, but also allowed me to see how much effort and strategic planning is put into constructing a building with a specific purpose.
After many stops along the way, we visited an LGBTQ-affirming building that was still under construction in Hillcrest. This development aims to provide seniors in the LGBTQ community with a safe and affordable place to live because many LGBTQ people do not have children and thus lack family support during old age. Here we learned about the process of constructing an affordable housing model, from sketching the ideas on paper and recruiting participants to considering finance options and constructing the building.
The first housing tour with the LCS was an eye-opening experience for me as I learned about different affordable housing models for the elderly and witnessed the living conditions of many seniors in San Diego.
Prior to the program, I had limited knowledge of the lives of seniors as I had little interaction with older adults other than my grandparents (and I have to admit I do not have the strongest communication with my grandparents). As my family comes from Vietnam, they have different expectations for aging than the American population. An example is that in my family, children are expected to take care of their parents during old age (care encompasses both financial and physical care) – my grandparents now live with some of their children, and my parents expect to live with at least one of their children in old age. On the other hand, many seniors in America live independently of their children. Through the LCS program, I hope to learn about the experience of aging for multicultural people living in San Diego. Moreover, I hope that by interacting with older adults and implementing a healthy aging project, I can learn valuable lessons from their experiences and foster meaningful relationships with older generations in a society that is highly segregated by age.
Another reason I joined the LCS program is to gain insight into the impact of public policies (such as policies on health insurance social security) and sociocultural structure on the process of aging and wellness of seniors. Through the program, I hope to increase my sensitivity to political and social issues that affect our aging population and health care for the elderly.