Grants in Action

Colorado Center on Law and Policy

Freezing, Hungry and Alone

Tracey Stewart imagines how some of Colorado’s seniors are living, and it makes her shudder. “The idea that someone is sitting there freezing, hungry and alone is scary.”

Stewart is the family economic security program manager at the Colorado Center on Law and Policy (CCLP). In July 2011, CCLP released a new tool to gauge the economic well-being of older adults in the state – the Elder Economic Security Standard Index for Colorado for 2011 (the Elder Index). Rose Community Foundation helped fund the project.

This is the first time a comprehensive evaluation like this has been done in Colorado, and the results are sobering. Here is one part of the Elder Index findings:

$17,644 - The amount a single, healthy elder homeowner without a mortgage needs for necessities

11,680 - The average annual social security payments made to a single woman

($5,964) - The annual shortfall

The news isn’t much better for a single man, who averages $15,824 annually from social security – still not enough to cover basic costs. With social security being the sole source of income for nearly 25% of Colorado elders, the situation is much worse for seniors still paying mortgages, renting or in ill health.

“Twenty percent of seniors barely make ends meet,” says Stewart. “They are no longer able to earn more by working more hours or getting a different job. They must utilize volunteer resources for necessities like food or heat.”

The prospects for some soon-to-be seniors are also shaky. “We have a group of people who will need to access the system because the economy tanked,” says Stewart. “Pensions have been compromised, 401ks have declined in value. Some were relying on their homes as investments but now they are under water.”

Others have different reasons for tough circumstances. Ninety-one-year-old Anita White was defrauded in the 1990s by a family ‘friend’ who convinced her to make a loan by taking out a mortgage on her paid-off home. The loan was never repaid. After Anita had a stroke in 1996 while her daughter Janice Miller was visiting from out of state, Miller discovered that the house was in foreclosure. Miller, now 69, has been trying to keep them both afloat ever since.

“I moved here to care for my mother,” says Miller, who quit a well-paying job in California and had difficulty finding stable employment in Denver. “I had to file bankruptcy for my mother and use my savings to fix the house because it had fallen into disrepair.”

The home is now well-kept and tidy but Miller worries about the future. “My mother gets a pension and we both get social security but for the last two years, there has been no cost-of-living increase. I have no social life and very few frills. I have a small retirement but my whole future depends on this house, really.”

Miller and White are getting by for now, largely because Miller is in good health. For many older adults with health or mobility issues, though, the numbers quickly become unmanageable. On average, the same healthy homeowner who is able to live on less than $1,500 per month will see her monthly costs increase by $600-3,600 for long-term care assistance.

CCLP hopes the report will be a wakeup call and planning tool for policymakers, nonprofit organizations, government agencies and individuals. To read the report, visit cclponline.org.

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From Impact - Summer 2011, Rose Community Foundation's newsletter