A new urgency on senior housing
It isn’t a myth: According to the 2000 Census, the six counties that make up the mid-Hudson Valley region have a disproportionate number of baby boomers and seniors, higher than any other part of the state. By 2015, says senior housing developer Jonah Mandelbaum, based in Warwick, “There will be 75 million seniors living in this country and they are all going to need a place to live. Will we be able to house them?”
It’s not a pretty picture, especially as the state coffers have dipped to lows not seen since Wall Street tumbled in 1929.
New York State’s Office for the Aging’s director, Michael Burgess, addressed the crisis elder care is facing in the state in June, calling it the “worst since the Great Depression.” The agency’s funding, culled from both the federal and state coffers, is $242 million for the 2009-2010 budgets, a reduction of nearly $14 million from the prior fiscal year.
Burgess urged municipalities to work together to make independent living easier for seniors who want to stay at home. In Westchester, several communities are working together to plan improvements that will make them more elder friendly, from sidewalk repair and curb cuts to bolder street signage.
The state Office for the Aging has proposed several cuts to make its new reduced budget work, including ending COLAs (cost of living adjustments) for the aging services program. Further, it has proposed to eliminate several programs, including affordable independent senior living housing, end-of-life initiatives, social workers for geriatric in-home medical care, long term care insurance and education outreach programs.
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