1 week Ago By Jessica York
SANTA CRUZ — In front of a somber audience gathered at the Civic Auditorium this winter, analyst David Davis said what was, for many in attendance, already a hard-learned truism. He shared that experiencing homelessness “literally takes off years” of your life. Of the approximately 165 names of people who had either died on the streets of Santa Cruz County in 2023 or had died housed after many years spent homeless, 55% were at least 55 years old, according to statistics collected by Davis, an analyst for the Santa Cruz County Homeless Persons Health Project, for the annual homeless memorial.
California, where 28% of the country’s homeless population resides, has seen a decades-long upward march in the percentage of homeless adults aged 50 years or older. In fact, the older population is the state’s fastest growing homeless segment, according to UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative analysis “Toward Dignity: Understanding Older Adult Homelessness.” Santa Cruz County is no exception to what is seen as a national trend, according to information recently released by Santa Cruz County Human Services.
Per results released this month in the latest annual homeless point-in-time and follow-up census, Santa Cruz County experienced a 7% uptick in its senior homeless population, compared to last year. Seniors aged 64 and older represented an estimated 10% of those 1,850 people counted on a single day in January, according to the Santa Cruz County 2024 Homelessness Point-In-Time Count and Report. Seen stretched on a San Lorenzo Park bench and later sitting up, bent nearly double, 65-year-old Arturo de Lara said he recently had found himself struggling to pick up his usual work due to whole-body pain he attributed to “just getting old.
” De Lara, who grew up in San Jose and had been living in Santa Cruz for about the past year, said he has struggled with homelessness for his whole life. De Lara said he seeks out little support from family with children to take care of or charitable organizations in the area but was making do. “There’s people that struggle all around.
It’s not where they’re at, it’s how they are,” de Lara said. “I’m a senior, right? But I end up in the park, I live in the park.” Homelessness, generally, dropped to its lowest count in 2023 and saw a less than 3% increase in 2024.
However, while families, veterans and youth have become priority investment demographics for federal and state government funding, older adults have received comparatively little of the focus. Housed or unhoused, seniors made up 24% of Santa Cruz County’s overall population in 2022 and are projected to reach 30% of the population by 2030, according to the U.S.
Census. The National Low-Income Housing Coalition’s 2024 Out of Reach report, released in June, also highlighted Santa Cruz County’s second year ranked as the nation’s most expensive metropolitan area in which to rent a two-bedroom apartment. Growing up in Santa Cruz County, Mike Rudy — at 61 years of age — charts his years in Santa Cruz County by way of the many jobs he has held.
At age 13, it was picking berries in Watsonville. At 14, he collected eggs. At 18, Rudy joined the plasterer’s union and said he helped craft the elaborate molding still visible outside the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk arcade.
Work has taken him from the Sierra Nevada foothills to Reno and back to Santa Cruz. Most recently, Rudy, sitting in a grassy area outside the Santa Cruz County Governance Building on Thursday, said he had recently worked at Broadway 7-Eleven for five years. “I got arthritis.
One morning, in my legs, I couldn’t even move,” Rudy said of how his employment ended. Now, Rudy said he “has a good spot” to sleep outside that has not caused too many problems, so far. “As we continue to grapple with funding challenges for addressing homelessness and the increasing unaffordability of Santa Cruz County in general, older and disabled adults are increasingly disproportionately impacted,” County Housing for Health Division Director Robert Ratner was quoted in a county release.
“The population of older adults in Santa Cruz County is itself increasing, and with it, I fear, so will the disparities.” Related Articles Housing | Alternate shelter campsite condensed | Photos Housing | Residents return to improved alternative camp Housing | Oroville talks anti-camping enforcement Housing | Chico city officials elaborate on plans for homeless campers Housing | Chico to file motion to exit Warren v. Chico settlement agreement Ratner sees some potential relief on the horizon in the form of pending legislation dubbed the Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities Housing Stability Act, which would create a statewide housing subsidy pilot program for older and disabled adult populations.
Senate Bill 37 was supported in the state Senate but has stalled in Assembly committees, to date. Other solutions, such as those spelled out in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2020 Master Plan for Aging — codified as legislation to address the growing disparities older and disabled adults face, often come with one-time state and federal funding that does not sustain programs built in response to the new policies, according to County Human Services Department Long Term Care Division Director Alicia Morales.
“And these disparities often grow at a faster rate for seniors because of growing health care access and caregivers needs, increased isolation, transportation challenges, less digital access and greater economic challenges for people over the age of 60,” Morales was quoted in a county release. Next month, results from a community needs assessment survey, part of its Age Well Santa Cruz County initiative, are scheduled for release. Officials expect the survey to fine-tune local strategies to improving housing stability in ways that will focus not only on older and disabled adults, but also will benefit community members of all ages and benefits.
“Age Well Santa Cruz County will be our blueprint for implementing strategies and partnerships that promote healthy aging for all,” Morales was quoted..
