Different Affordable Senior Living Options in Los Angeles

What makes nursing homes and assisted living facilities so expensive? All senior living housing requires some expense from the cost of maintaining property to the cost of food, materials and medical supplies to the cost of hiring a full staff. Group activities like games, musical or pet therapies, rehabilitative or educational programs and field trips also cost the facility a fair amount of money. All of these expenses combined can easily range into the tens of thousands, justifying monthly costs of $2,000 per resident. It doesn’t help that California is one of the most expensive states in the country, and it’s probably true that if you left the state you could find more affordable residential family living.

However, home is where the heart is, and many California residents have strong roots in the state, not to mention immediate and extended family members close by. Seniors who are just retiring from the workforce may find a total change in state scenery too drastic to comfortably live with. How can you find affordable senior living in Los Angeles?

The first consideration is to look specifically for low-income homes. There are centers for affordable senior living in Los Angeles, that is, units specially designed for lower-income families. They may be HUD sponsored homes, which is a project by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, to help families find affordable housing for seniors. Don’t immediately believe that all of these low-income retirement homes are of low quality. While it may be true that the center cannot afford the best of amenities or the finest facilities in the state, the senior home’s staff may very considerate and trained to provide the best health care possible.

Prices of Affordable Senior Living in Los Angeles

How much does affordable senior living in Los Angeles cost these days? It largely depends on what you’re looking for from a facility, as well as the type of services provided. An assisted living home does not provide any medical attention, only non-medical supervision for residents, which may include bathing, dressing, grooming and custodial work. Assisted living homes allow a degree of independence and thus are usually less expensive than nursing homes. Monthly fees start at $1,500 a month and may be as high as $6,000 a month. There is a slight discount for double occupancy, which may be $1,000 to $2,500 per month. The cost of assisted living homes are directly affected by the regularity of services provided.

Retirement communities and continuing care facilities are figured differently in comparing affordable senior living in Los Angeles. Retirement communities usually do not provide much in the way of monitoring or custodial work and may only charge a tenant $1,000 per month. Continuing care communities offer much more individual care and usually involve lifetime accommodations that change with the health of the resident. It is not unheard of for these homes to charge $20,000 to $40,000 a month or more.

Solutions to Affordable Senior Living in Los Angeles

If you are having difficulty locating an affordable senior home, then there are least two solutions that can help your search. First, look into your Medicaid plan. Medicaid may partially cover the rent of low-income seniors. If you find a board and care or assisted living facility for about a $1,500 a month, then a partial Medicaid payment along with your own income may be just enough to handle the costs.

Homelessness has been a much discussed and much misunderstood problem confronting our urban and rural communities throughout America as well as any other parts of the world. Estimates of the number of homeless people in the United States range from a low of 300,000 to several million. The problem increased dramatically in the United States during the 1980s as nearly seventy-five percent of the resources allocated by the federal government for low-and moderate-income housing were slashed. Other factors cause homelessness too. Floods, fires tornadoes, earthquakes, and hurricanes, which are clearly beyond our control, also put people out of these homes. The way we respond to the homeless is well within our control, however. Other causes of Homelessness, such as displacement as a result of war, redevelopment, zoning,code enforcement, highway and airport construction, are well within our control from their inception.

The largest and fastest growing segment of the homeless population is single-parent families with children. Another primary factor affecting low-and moderate-income families with children is the failure of state and local governments and the private sector to adopt policies and priorities that would insure maintenance of an adequate supply of decent, affordable housing for those who need it. A related dimension of homelessness is the condition of substandard quality of their housing is often unsafe or unhealthy. Interacting with people who are actually homeless will probably not be feasible for most families unless you visit a shelter at night or make some guesses about individuals you see along the street. Imagine what life must be like for the people who live in it.