Community Government Health & Wellness

Gig Harbor, other cities trying to ease financial burden on seniors

Posted on December 19th, 2024 By: Conor Wilson

Joyce Schultz has noticed members at the Gig Harbor Senior Center, where she works as a program manager, pinching pennies and trying to be more frugal.

Everyone feels the effects of the increased cost of living in the past few years, but it appears to be hitting seniors particularly hard. Rising prices for housing, medical care, groceries and other necessities force many seniors to make trade-offs.

“I’m sure many are making choices,” she said. “It’s a challenging time for seniors at the moment and probably will be into the future.”

Utility rate reduction

In Gig Harbor — where roughly a quarter of the population is 65 or older — the city is attempting to relieve some of the economic burden plaguing its low-income seniors, proposing an expansion of its utility rate reduction program.

Program manager Joyce Schultz, left, speaks to members at the Gig Harbor Senior Center on Dec. 17.

Elderly residents are the “most at-risk” group in the city of being displaced due to finances, said Shea Smiley, the city’s Housing, Health and Human Services Program manager, who proposed the expansion. They comprise a disproportionate amount of the city’s low-income earners.

The reduction plan, which the city council has not yet adopted, would be the first update in nearly three years. It comes after the city council approved a general utility rate increase for water and sewer customers that will take effect in 2025.

Smiley’s proposal would allow any household with a combined income below $64,000 — where the head of the household or their spouse is age 62 or older — to qualify for a reduction on water and sewer rates. The ordinance would also extend benefits to people with disabilities, regardless of age, who are unable to work.

Updating the program to better align with current needs could be a huge stress relief for community members teetering on the edge of financial uncertainty, Smiley said.

“It is an anti-displacement strategy. It’s been something the Legislature has wanted us to look at,” she told the council last month. “If we’re able to relieve a little bit of pressure in the area of utilities, that is going to help with relieving pressure with the cost of rent.”

Older adults facing homelessness

The reduction comes amid a fraught time for seniors on the Kitsap Peninsula. Local officials report older adults being priced out of the community. Those older than 55 comprise one of the fastest-growing demographics in the local homeless population.

“It’s really devastating when you look at the numbers,” said Stacey Smith, director for the Kitsap County Division of Aging and Long-Term Care.

The number of older adults at-risk or currently experiencing homelessness has “increased rapidly in recent years,” according to a 2023 report prepared for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. They are currently the fastest growing age group among the homeless population, with numbers expected to grow over the next decade.

Part of that growth is a demographic shift. The Baby Boomer generation — born after World War II and into the mid 1960s — make up a considerable share of the population. Many have experienced homelessness throughout their life and continue to live unsheltered as they age.

Yet a relatively recent — and perhaps more troubling — development is the number of older adults with no history of housing insecurity becoming homeless for the first time in their 50s or 60s.

For economically vulnerable seniors, a major life event like the death of a spouse, a divorce or medical emergency can push them over the edge. Fixed incomes like Social Security have also not kept pace with the cost of living.

Housing shortage

That puts many seniors in a precarious position as they try to navigate a tight housing market while also affording other necessities. Rising rents squeeze some out. Others who can no longer safely live at their current residence have few options to downsize.

In Gig Harbor, seniors are about 1.5 times more likely to be “cost burdened” by their rent or mortgage payment, according to the city’s housing plan. That means they spend 30% or more of their income each month on housing.

“These statistics underscore the pressing need for affordable housing solutions tailored to the needs of Gig Harbor’s aging population,” Julie Gustanski, president emeritus and CEO of the Greater Gig Harbor Foundation, which runs the city’s senior center, wrote in an email.

“Addressing this issue is crucial to ensure that seniors can maintain their quality of life without the added stress of unaffordable housing costs.”

A program in Kitsap offers in-home care to low-income seniors who may face challenges living safely at their current home or apartment. The county provides this service to about 1,200 residents who might otherwise be displaced, Smith said. It’s an effective strategy, if they can continue to afford their homes.

“We have this robust in-home care service available to people on the lower-income spectrum, but for us the issue is housing,” she said. “People have to have a place to live in order to receive this in-home, personal care.”

“Because people can’t afford housing in Kitsap County, a lot of time they’re forced out of our community,” she continued.

Rate reductions

Absent a solution to the housing crisis, reducing utility rates is one strategy Washington cities employ to ease the financial burden facing seniors and, hopefully, keep them housed.

Reduced utility rates are allowed under the Senior Citizens Service Act, a state law expanded several times since its initial adoption in 1979. Cities have the discretion to determine who qualifies as ‘low income’ and the discount offered.

Kim Hendrickson, the city of Poulsbo’s Housing, Health and Human Services director, said utility costs are one factor that contribute to pricing people out of the community. That is why nearly every city on the peninsula has some kind of reduction.

Hendrickson said little data is available on the number of seniors at risk of displacement. Anecdotally, though, it is a common concern for residents. That has been especially true since the city announced its Nordic Cottages Project, an eight-unit housing development for low-income seniors on Lincoln Road.

“Since we’ve been publicly talking about the Nordic Cottages, I get a depressing number of people emailing me who are being priced out,” she said.

Poulsbo’s City Council adopted an update to its own senior rate program last month. The city raised the income qualification threshold up to $48,000 and lowered the qualification age to 62.

Only about 26 city-utility customers received a reduction, Public Works Director Dianne Lenius said during a city council meeting. That represents only a fraction of the city’s more than 4,000 customers, although the city anticipates participation will grow.

‘Any reduction’

Exactly how effective utility reductions are at reducing displacement in Gig Harbor or the broader Kitsap Peninsula is unclear. Smiley, the city housing manager, did not return a voicemail seeking comment.

Although unaware of any seniors experiencing homelessness, Schultz said housing remains a top concern. She welcomes any efforts to ease that burden, praising the city for its work. The city also recently brought attention to a Pierce County property tax exemption for low-income seniors, she said. Several senior center members qualified.

“That was huge for them,” she said. “Any reduction of that sort is helpful.”

Conor Wilson is a Murrow News fellow, reporting for Gig Harbor Now and the Bremerton-based newspaper Kitsap Sun, through a program managed by Washington State University.