Stand Up for Seniors

Are you currently caring for a senior aged parent, while balancing a career and family? Now that your senior aged parent is gracefully aging, you need to reassess their housing options. The current home to where they have resided for the last 40 years is no longer accommodating their requirements. For the last five years I have been in search for an affordable home for a senior aged parent, who lives in a three story walk up with inadequate parking. In addition basic repairs are not being met. This is not easy to balance, hitting wall after wall of "resources" not getting anywhere other than a filing cabinet filled with papers of resources. Researching the current housing market in the state of New York is a full-time job. While I have reached out to the property manager where she currently resides to request reasonable accommodations for another unit where she currently resides, the request was denied due to high occupancy. Additionally, she is currently on a wait list within the county. I am mentally and physically exhausted with this housing challenge, and require the assistance of a higher authority to intervene. Other than a nursing home, I strongly believe that other options should be available to accommodate our seniors for safe housing. Not all seniors require a nursing home setting but rather a 55+ community, or other private apartments that honor the SCRIE program (senior citizen rent increase exemption) or housing vouchers. Have you ever tried calling the local housing authority to inquire about other options, only to be told 'we don't do that here.' Without making them wrong, what is the purpose of a welcoming website offering resources, but when contacting the agency of source, it's another story. Are we honoring who we are behind the veil, or are we just a facade of smoke and mirrors? I believe that I am speaking on behalf of others who may have also hit a wall. We need to stand together to address a basic need. With your help, I am petitioning for housing vouchers for low income seniors who don't deserve to be placed on three year waiting list if not longer. 98% of the housing waiting lists are closed, that's preposterous. Today, the average senior lives well past the retirement age reaching their 90's some even make the 100+ mark. If funding is made available to build high rise apartments that your average senior cannot afford, then some of those funds should be allocated toward affordable housing for low income seniors as well. We can overcome this challenge and meet the need by petitioning for housing vouchers for our seniors.