ALBANY — Affordable-housing industry representatives will meet here today, Thursday, to discuss the potential $250 million New York State funding that has been proposed to create affordable senior housing across the state.

In December, a coalition made up of 10 not-for-profit and for-profit housing industry organizations created a report recommending ways to create senior housing and finance its funding. The recommendation included asking for $50 million for each of the next five years to be allotted in the state budget.

“Construction isn’t matching the rising population,” said Sam Spokony, a representative of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing. The association, one of the coalition’s organizations, has 375 members, including for-profit and not-for-profit developers, lenders, investors, syndicators, attorneys, architects, and others active in the financing, construction, and operation of affordable housing, according to the NYSAFAH website. 

The coalition “wants the state to provide more public state funding for senior housing construction,” Spokony said.

Last week, Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed in his combined State of the State and budget address a $10 billion “House NY 2020 Plan,” which would create and preserve 100,000 affordable-housing units across the state, if approved by the New York State Legislature. A portion of those units would be for senior housing.

The senior-housing symposium in Albany will include discussion from two panels.

“The first is really exploring the current development process, and how senior housing is being built now and funded,” said Jolie Milstein, the president and chief executive officer of the housing association, NYSAFAH.

The second will discuss advocacy for improved senior programs and for the governor’s proposed budget, she said. The coalition, she said, proposes $50 million for each of the next five years, out of the $10 billion for affordable housing.

“There are a lot of programs competing with other affordable-housing programs,” she said. 

The governor’s proposal includes programs for new homeowners, the creation of more affordable housing in rent-controlled areas, and an additional $10 billion dedicated solely to addressing homelessness.

Senior housing

“There is a dedicated slice [of the budget] going specifically to senior housing,” Milstein told The Enterprise. “We’d like to see the whole pie get bigger.”

According to the coalition’s recommendations report in December, “Our aging population adds to the growing demand for affordable housing options. By 2040, we will see a 40% increase in elderly New York City households, rising to 1.4 million seniors. For many senior households on fixed incomes, keeping up with rising rents is difficult. A shocking 65% of single elderly households living in rent stabilized units pay more than half of their income on rent.”

“We’re very fortunate in New York State that we have a governor and a legislature that are focused on affordable housing,” Milstein told The Enterprise. “Rising rents, stagnant wages — affordable housing is a tool [that allows people] to be able to live in comfortable and affordable surroundings. We’re glad that the governor is paying attention to these needs.”

Milstein said that senior housing is different from other affordable housing.

Seniors “need someone on-site to help coordinate their care,” she said. Staff at senior housing facilities coordinate medical appointments and other needs, and are there to help if seniors fall, Milstein said.

“It’s accepted wisdom in this industry. You have to provide an on-site service coordinator,” she said, “So seniors can stay in their homes and get certain services provided.”

Affordable senior housing is also different from assisted senior living, Milstein said.

“That’s a whole other set of [services],” she said. “We’re talking about something short of that level of care.”

The cost of keeping seniors in their homes with some care is less than full care through a nursing home, according to Judith Eisgruber, of the Albany County Rural Housing Authority in Voorheesville.

“With the availability of accessibility modification apparatus, seniors are remaining in their homes longer; some [are] waiting to enter senior housing until their late 70's - early 80's,” Eisgruber wrote in an email to The Enterprise. “In addition, the lack of supportive services in senior housing is becoming more evident.  Without supportive services, more seniors are eventually placed in nursing homes, rehab centers, etc. The cost of providing supportive housing services in multi-unit senior housing is far less than providing services through a nursing home.”

Eisgruber wrote that supportive services in senior housing units “reduces the cost load on our health care system.”

The coalition recommended that senior housing “should not be concentrated solely in high-opportunity areas, as it could become an impediment to achieving fair housing goals.” 

Seniors in large urban areas face high rents and home costs, but the problem of affordable senior housing is a statewide issues, according to NYSAFAH.

“There was a time in the mid-70s to early 90s that we had done so much senior housing that there was a slight glut of senior housing,” Eisgruber wrote to The Enterprise. “In the 90s, funding for the purpose of multi-unit housing development began to change to 'family' projects. Now, with the large demographic shift owned largely by the baby boomer generation, the demand for senior housing, both 55-plus and over-62-years-of-age, is growing, with no end in sight for at least another two decades.”

Public welcome

Members of the public are welcome at the symposium in Albany, Milstein said.

“The public should talk to their state representatives and encourage their elected officials to get involved in this issue,” she said. “Let them know that this is a priority for them.”

Registration for the symposium is available online at nysafah.org; costs are $25 for members, and $50 for non-members.