OLDER HOMELESS
by Jim Forde, Director Cargo2Casa
As Director of Cargo2Casa, I talk to people over 65 daily. What I see and hear is not good. So many seniors have not prepared for the point when they cannot work full-time, and to make matters worse, many older people cannot find jobs.
The more than 100 housing-related laws passed by legislators and signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom since 2019 have done little or nothing to solve the three problems they were supposed to address: availability, affordability, and homelessness.
A new study shows more than half the homeless will soon be aged 50 or older, with the proportion of homeless over 65 due to triple between 2017 and 2030 unless something is quickly done. This is one of the most financially disastrous realities the state and its cities and counties could ever confront. Homelessness and Housing Initiatives are critical for California, where budget constraints have already reduced average annual spending on homelessness. As the homeless population ages steadily, in part due to increasing rents and unavailability of low-cost homes in all size classes, and with the median home price in the state’s largest county now more than $980,000 – or more than $100,000 higher than one year ago – this problem can only grow worse. In short, rapidly increasing numbers of older homeless will quickly translate into vastly larger public expenses for their medical care. Those expenses figure to continue longer than they would for younger homeless because older homeless adults typically experience “prolonged episodes of homelessness,” the median length of their remaining unhoused now standing at 25 months, or just over two years.
Under Newsom’s governorship, the homelessness crisis still haunts California
The report, based in part on 365 interviews with homeless individuals, showed older adults believe “modest” financial help, including housing choice vouchers and small subsidies like one-time payments that can get them into an apartment by funding security deposits, can help them become permanently housed. To help Cargo2Casa, a charitable and educational organization founded by Jim Forde, bring people together to build low-cost homes out of ocean containers. Creating low-cost housing out of land a homeowner already owns not only lessens the burden of the government to provide additional housing but educates homeowners on optimal ways to develop low-cost housing and provide a secondary income.
These homes are sold to homeowners to supply assisted rental housing, and Cargo2Casa also offers educational programs to help homeowners learn about the financial benefits of adding accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to their properties. By creating low-cost housing and assisting homeowners to generate additional income, Cargo2Casa is helping to address the affordable housing crisis and create more sustainable communities.
In addition to providing affordable housing, Cargo2Casa trains underemployed community members in construction and teaches real estate and lending agents how to do construction estimates and site plans. This training helps people in the real estate industry who have been impacted by the high cost of housing and helps create a more diverse and inclusive workforce in the construction industry.
Cargo2Casa mission is to create a world where every person has a decent place to live. The organization’s vision is to create sustainable communities through low-cost container homes, home ownership, rental income, neighborhood civic engagement, advocacy, home repair, and economic development.
Cargo2Casa’s work is critical because freight companies create an enormous surplus of empty shipping containers at ports. Re-using these containers for home-building purposes reduces the need for new materials and helps to create more sustainable communities.
