Over my 16 years of working with older adults experiencing homelessness at Serving Seniors, we have gained a better understanding of the societal forces and the personal circumstances that have led to the explosion in this population.
The challenge ahead of us now is to take this information and begin to build on it to dispel our misconceptions and measure which approach gives us the best results and which get in the way of finding solutions. We must put our limited resources toward what works most efficiently and effectively to reduce the number of people over age 55 without housing.
With a problem as big and complex as homelessness, there are many misconceptions getting in the way of addressing San Diego County’s population of people experiencing homelessness. After almost two decades working with low-income and homeless older adults, I’m still learning something new every day which helps our organization do a better job addressing this crisis.
For many years, Serving Seniors staff, volunteers, and board members have participated in the annual Point-In-Time Count. This annual effort provides critically important information to help public officials and service providers determine how best to continue addressing our region’s population of people experiencing homelessness.
It’s not an easy assignment. It involves an early wake-up call to assemble in the dark, and approaching people sleeping on our streets to ask them about their circumstances.
This demographic shift challenges commonly held misconceptions about homelessness, shedding light on the systemic failures rather than individual shortcomings that often lead to this dire situation.
This year, Serving Seniors decided to try something new. During the annual count, we talk to many people who aren’t aware of our support services. Why not use this outreach opportunity to get people connected with services in a more deliberate way?
For the first time following the count, we hosted the CARE Senior Resource Fair at the Serving Seniors Gary and Mary West Senior Wellness Center downtown. Volunteers passed out information to people contacted during the count about the fair as part of outreach for the event.
We invited several San Diego County organizations with support services and resources for low -income and homeless older adults to join us and provide convenient access in one location. They included:
- Father Joe’s street health program
- Family Health Centers programs including homeless services and older adult services
- The Consumer Center for Health, Education and Advocacy and the Legal Aid Society
- County of San Diego self-sufficiency services
- San Ysidro Health senior dental center
Attendees were able to discuss resources including MediCal and Cal-Fresh, low-cost meals, legal aid, healthcare advocacy, street medicine and harm reduction.
We conducted a survey of all the attendees. We wanted to know what was most useful to them, and what wasn’t working well.
At the event’s conclusion, 92 individuals had signed in and accessed information and services at the fair. We learned a lot from this sample of people.
More than three-quarters of our attendees found the event helped increase their understanding of the services available, and the same percentage were able to connect referrals they needed at the event.
Serving Seniors signed up 12 people for our congregate dining program. Six of them received their first meals on the day of the Point in Time count.
Thirty people scheduled appointments with the San Ysidro Health senior dental center, which is co-located at our Wellness Center — a third of the people who attended our CARE Resource Fair.
While those numbers may seem small, six people didn’t go hungry that day, and a dozen will start eating hot, nutritious meals daily. By coming through our doors, we will learn more about them and begin connecting them to more services. They will make friends, and their lives will change for the better.
Serving Seniors has the only freestanding dental clinic connected to a senior center in the U.S. I can’t overstate the need for this crucial medical service, which is not covered by most standard insurance programs. Poor dental health leads to numerous medical complications including cardiovascular disease, respiratory infections and diabetes complications. These conditions can become chronic, life threatening, and expensive to treat on taxpayer dollars.
Our first CARE Resource Fair was so successful for Serving Seniors and our partner agencies that we plan to hold another later this year. I’m confident they will become a regular part of our outreach efforts.
We’re getting more creative in our service initiatives. This is the kind of outreach in partnership with other agencies we must establish if we are to get a handle on the older adult homelessness crisis.
We remain optimistic despite the severity of the numbers. Shallow rental subsidy programs, non-congregate shelter options, safe parking and other resources targeting older adult homelessness can help people quickly, allowing us to focus other resources on those who need them most.
Melinda Forstey is president and chief executive officer of Serving Seniors.
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