By Dianne Anderson

It stands to reason that if African Americans are 13% of the national population, but 40% of the homeless population, then seniors need to be more vigilant than ever when it comes to aging in place.

Evictions and sky-high rents are pushing the elderly to the fringe of society.

Long time community advocate, Rev. Leon Wood, said the answer starts with limiting how high rents can be raised within a period of time. Since COVID, he said it has shot up to unbearable heights.

“And with the construction of new buildings downtown and developers coming in, that’s how the rent gets raised. Developers are trying to maximize profits, and seniors are usually on a static income. The system doesn’t acknowledge that,” said Dr. Rev. Leon, founder of the nonprofit Success in Challenges, and a member of the Long Beach Gray Panthers.

Wood said the city also needs to bridge the human-technology gap. Seniors and low income people have a hard time navigating those systems, even if they can get inside the buildings.

“Long Beach is becoming a heartless concrete city,” he said. “Everything is on Zoom. People at the top tiers are hard to get to. We’re into technology, not into human beings.”

For Black seniors, the community could benefit from services, but access has diminished as Black neighborhoods have dispersed, many migrated to the Inland Empire. It has weakened the fabric of the community that Blacks are no longer a large minority population. Their voice is not as loud.

Black women are especially at risk of poverty and homelessness.

“We have an overly large number of African American women because the men have died or gone,” he said. “But, Black people have been living in cars [even] when times were good. When it starts striking other people, [it draws] attention. This isn’t new for us,” he said.

Karen Reside, president of the local Gray Panthers chapter, said their Long Beach Gray Panthers meet on the first Saturday of every month at 10:30 a.m. at the Long Beach Senior Center, 1150 E. Fourth St., in Room 202.

Recently, the Panthers met with 50 angry seniors frustrated with rent increases and being evicted.

“Seniors are struggling and landlords are implementing increases and evicting senior women just because they can. The resources are stretched so thinly that housing organizations can’t handle all cases,” she said.

Without representation and they can’t afford a lawyer, poor elderly seniors in their 60s and 70s with health issues make their way to court, usually alone and by bus.

Reside, who also serves on the LA County Commission on Aging, said they work with about 75 organizations, with transportation and housing, and just partnered with United Way to get the housing oversight group started.

Calls come in daily, and she refers out to resources. She said the city has been building up more units for families, which brings down thousands of applications, with just a handful designated for seniors.

“The problem in Long Beach is we’ve run out of housing vouchers, and we’re trying to get more housing vouchers,” she said. “[The need] is excessive due to poor housing policies years in the process. The fastest group becoming homeless are seniors both in LA County and Long Beach.”

One senior she works with received an eviction notice from her landlord, where she lived for 13 years. Her husband had passed away from COVID, and she has had no time to grieve.

“She had to file her eviction documents by herself. If she gets evicted, where is she going to go?”

Gov. Newsom signed legislation to expedite ADU building units, and Long Beach is implementing processing for those small housing solutions, which could help ease the crisis, but that takes time. Churches and education facilities can build housing on their parking lots.

For now, the crisis will not be solved quickly. The city is looking at more tent villages for winter, and recently opened a larger safe parking space for homeless to live safely in cars and access restrooms.

Almost every day, she eats lunch with about a dozen, mostly elderly women, living out of their cars.

“You’d be surprised,” she said. “It’s crushing, becoming homeless can cause mental health problems. You have to worry about rape, you have to worry about robbery. It’s a huge issue.”

For participating seniors, Gray Panthers distribute packaged meals, and they also give warm coats every three years. They also give food gift cards, prioritizing those who come regularly for food distribution on Mondays and Fridays at the senior center.

Housing Services, under the city’s health department, also has two mobile units with a case manager, and outreach worker, scheduled at various locations.

“They came and spoke at our last meeting. They had people sign up for appointments and services. We got a couple of people into transitional housing, and they are working on getting permanent housing,” she said.

The health department also has a satellite office at the Senior Center to provide services. Their lunch program has one hot meal a day and seniors pay what what they can afford. They have theater groups, karaoke, senior night club, music and dancing.

“There’s a computer lab, someone comes out on weekends to show them how to use their devices,” she said. “Last week we had a free vaccination clinic by CSULB nursing students through the health department.”

Seniors can get a lot, but also give through volunteerism with easy phone banking that allows them to become advocates to support the types of policies that support them.

“We have a large number of seniors willing to make phone calls and it can make a difference,” she said.

Now through December 7, it’s open enrollment period for Medicare, and Medicaid services have representatives coming out once a month to help people make the right choices.

“You only have to sign up once, but you want to sign up within the window frame of time. You do not want to end up paying a lifelong penalty,” she said.

<https://longbeachgraypanthers.org/contact-us>

To see KFF Medicare Open Enrollment FAQS,

https://bit.ly/3FO7sst

To see senior financial disparities Brookings Report, https://bit.ly/3sn0OGA