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Affordable Housing

The report to the community on the future need for affordable senior housing, A Quiet Crisis: Age Wave Maxes Out Affordable Housing, is the result of a year long collaboration among six agencies* in King County.

• Senior Housing Report
• Senior Housing Report: Appendix - includes examples of national models of supportive housing for low income seniors.

Among the report's findings:

• By 2025, the number of seniors in King County will double, representing 23 percent of King County's total population. The number of seniors living in poverty will more than double.
• Currently, the need for affordable housing greatly surpasses the supply. An additional 936 subsidized units will need to be created each year until 2025 just to maintain the current ratio of affordable housing to poor seniors.
• The future needs of seniors will differ in some respects from today's seniors. The baby boom generation is less likely than prior generations to derive its retirement income from secure lifetime sources such as pensions or annuities. Seniors are expected to live longer and spend more years with limited mobility and supportive services needs.
• Working together, local governments, non-profit agencies and housing authorities can lead community-wide efforts to avert the crisis. New strategies are needed to help seniors prepare to succeed in retirement including: healthy aging initiatives, financial literacy training, incorporation of universal design features in new construction and remodeling projects to make it easier for residents to remain in their homes as they age. Other approaches include making strategic investments of public funding to expand the supply of affordable housing for seniors, making policy changes that create a wider range of choices for low-income seniors who must rely on subsidized housing and state-sponsored health care, and encouraging the creation of new types of supportive housing.

Strong partnerships have been forged and furthered by work on this report to map and meet the increasing demand for quality senior care in quality public and private homes in King County through 2025.

Related Materials, Presentations, and Articles:

• Presentation on Senior Housing Report - by Pamela Piering, ADS Director. Presented on February 19, 2009 at Nia Senior Housing Complex, and in July 2009 for the Eastside Housing Forum.
• "Study Highlights Need for Affordable Housing," March 2009 issue of Seniors Digest.
• "More Seniors Using Vehicles as Shelter," Seattle Times, April 8, 2009.
• "Existing Senior Housing in East King County," by Arthur Sullivan of ARCH. A presentation to the Eastside Housing Forum, July 2009.
• Seattle Seniors - A report on demographic trends by the Seattle Office of Housing, November 2009.

*The six agencies responsible for the report are:

• King County Housing Authority
• Seattle Human Services Department/Aging and Disability Services
• Seattle Housing Authority
• Seattle Office of Housing
• King County Housing & Community Development, and
• King County Community and Human Services Department