Funding Shortfall Could Cost Elderly Their Independence, UF Study Finds

February 25, 1999

GAINESVILLE — Several hundred thousand elderly Americans living in federally-subsidized apartment housing could lose their independence as the new millennium begins because of funding shortfalls, according to a University of Florida study being released next week.

Without enough money, there will be many difficulties providing enough services to help the elderly with essentials such as housekeeping, medication management, transportation for doctor’s visits, sorting out finances and dealing with depression, said Stephen Golant, a UF professor of gerontology and human geography who specializes in researching elderly issues.

“The needs are very basic and simple,” he said. “The federal government has inadequately and erratically funded the low-rent housing programs needed by America’s old.”

While Golant’s study focused on Florida, he said its findings apply nationwide.

“When you look at the growth in Florida during the next 10 years, we’ll be top-heavy in the 75-and-older population, with the 85-plus group growing the fastest. This is the group most in need of these services, and that’s true nationwide,” Golant said.

If the elderly don’t have the assistance they need to live on their own, Golant said, they most likely will end up in nursing homes. Not only would that lower their quality of life, he said, it also could cost taxpayers more in the long run.

Golant’s two-year study, funded with a $170,000 grant from the Chicago-based Retirement Research Foundation, is titled the CASERA Project — “Creating Affordable and Supportive Elder Renter Accommodations.” The study is being sent to some 850 policy-makers, housing and service providers and elder-focused organizations both in Florida and throughout the country.

Roughly 80,000 elderly Floridians, or 3 percent of the total elderly population, live in federally subsidized housing, and another 33,364 currently are on waiting lists to get into affordable subsidized housing. That’s more than the number of elderly living in Florida’s nursing homes, he said. Nationwide, about 1.6 million elderly live in rent-assisted apartment housing.

Golant interviewed 205 on-site managers of Housing and Urban Development facilities; 38 directors of public housing; service coordinators, on-site staff who help elder tenants find and obtain the supportive services they need; and 573 elderly people. He found that most housing managers are open to the possibility of helping their frail tenants but don’t have the time, money or experience. About 34 percent of HUD managers are what Golant termed “brick-and-mortar” people, meaning they concentrate mainly on the upkeep and operation of the apartment building.

With the right incentives, Golant said, housing managers could be brought around to providing more help to less-independent elder tenants.

The funding shortage stems from federal officials’ failure to increase the budget for elder rental housing or supportive service programs, even as demand has steadily increased, Golant said.

In his study, Golant recommends more than two dozen solutions to better link elder tenants with assistance. Among them:

• Increase funding for the service coordinators, who help the elderly get assistance.
• Strengthen organizational ties between housing managers and service providers.
• Educate housing sponsors on the availability of supportive services and how to seek funding for them.
• Have state agencies charged with providing elder services specifically target low-income elders in rent-subsidized facilities.

Marilyn Hennessey, president of the Retirement Research Foundation, said Golant’s recommendations “deserve careful attention. They make human and economic sense. To ignore this growing challenge invites ever-increasing expenditures for institutional care.”