affordable housing for seniors
Posted by Pamela Arnsberger on Mar 30, 2017
Announcements and reminders
Doug announced that the Stop Hunger Now event is changed to Sunday May 7thth (during the district conference) at New Brighton Middle School
We need volunteers for the American Music Festival May 27th and 28th. If you wish to volunteer see Sandra.
There is a town hall meeting Saturday at New Brighton Middle School. More than 1200 people are expected. Both our representatives will be there along with John Laird and Zach Friend.
May 5th is our major fundraiser. Sign up to go at a meeting. Tickets are $150 ($100 per ticket is tax deductible). Check should be payable to the Foundation. Michelle is still looking for major sponsors, silent auction items and wine for the wine wagon/wheelbarrow.
District assembly is on April 13th at 5:00 (but we leave at 3:30). We have room for two more people in the limo. See Win if you wish to go.
Today our speaker was Mark Trabing from Habitat for Humanity. He is a local person who has a Masters Degree in community development from UC Davis and served in the Peace Corps in Jamaica.
Habitat is active in 70 countries. Locally Santa Cruz and Monterey Habitat have recently merged. They build two houses a year on average. They have two stores in Seaside and Santa Cruz where they sell lightly used items. We are the first Habitat to build affordable accessory dwelling units (ADUS).
ADUS can be attached to a house or detached or even a converted garage. They are 500 square feet, one bedroom/one bath The units are 500 sq feet and accessible (wide corridors, low flow toilets, grab bars in the bathroom, etc).
Mr. Trabing spoke about the difficulty older people have in remaining in their own home. The point is to allow seniors to age in place and at the same time add an affordable single unit dwelling in Santa Cruz. He used the example of reverse mortgages as to one of the less than satisfactory solutions older people use to stay in their own home.
They work with limited income seniors (under $40,0000 per year for an individual). Assets are not held against them. Habitat will build 80% of the home. Seniors can use various methods to finance the build including long term no interest loans. In addition, if they build an ADU they can add the rental income to their monthly income.
Habitat will navigate the development process. Senior Network Services will provide ongoing case management. They will also help to convert or rehabilitate red tagged ADUS to something legal. They are looking for more places to convert in the City of Santa Cruz and are always in need of volunteers and donated items.