California’s golden years, turning to dust

OPINION – A lot of assumptions about the “golden years” of retirement have been blown away by runaway rent increases. We used to believe that, if you worked hard, were thrifty, and saved up a nest egg, you would be comfortable in retirement.

Most retired people live on fixed incomes from Social Security or a pension. In addition, if they have put money aside through retirement accounts, they have calculated how much they need to live and how long their money will last. When inflation outstrips the money they earn, it throws a wrench into those plans.

Housing represents 36 percent of the current rate of inflation, which is more than gas, food, transportation, or healthcare. If you are getting a four percent increase in your Social Security, but your rent goes up 10 percent, it hurts. If you are not working, you can’t make up for that hole in your budget. So, you scrimp on food, medicine, or anything else to keep a roof over your head.

A recent Harvard study found 50 percent of all renters in the United States are rent-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing. And, according to one count on a night in January 2023, more than 653,000 Americans were homeless.

Unfortunately, too many seniors are being pushed over the edge. When every bit of discretionary spending is drained out and there isn’t enough for the necessities after the rent is paid, there is a high likelihood that the next stop is the street.

Los Angeles is graying fast, at a rate 50 percent higher than the rest of the United States. The number of Californians over the age of 60 has increased by 32 percent and over the age of 70 by 40 percent. The number of Californians under the age of 10 has decreased by 20 percent. So, the future holds that fewer healthy working age people will be supporting more needy older people, and that is not sustainable.

The prospects for the future are looking rather bleak when you consider that, according to the Los Angeles Business Council Institute, 75 percent of people under 35 have considered leaving Los Angeles. Meanwhile, only 11 percent of people who moved within California came from other states, putting us at rock bottom amongst all 50.

Any society can be judged by how it treats the very young and the very old. We don’t look good when you see the skyrocketing numbers of older adults and children living on the street. Forty-eight percent of all unhoused single people in California are more than 50 years old. In Los Angeles alone, hundreds of children are living in shelters or tents in and around Skid Row.

This scenario might seem very grim. Fortunately, there are solutions at our disposal. First and foremost, we must limit rent increases so that we can keep people young and old housed. Secondly, we must build more affordable senior housing. Baby Boomers are living longer than ever, and most do not have a lot of money to fall back on.

We can surrender to the survival of the fittest and turn a blind eye to the escalating humanitarian crisis right in front of us, or we can find compassion and balance by establishing that housing is a human right and making special provisions for older people who have no reserve to tap into when rents skyrocket.

A first step in California is passing Proposition 33, the rent control initiative, this November. Once we have stopped the bleeding, we then must implement a more comprehensive plan to house everyone.

Michael Weinstein is the president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global HIV/AIDS organization, and AHF’s Healthy Housing Foundation.