TITLE
Recommendation to request City Manager to work with all of the appropriate departments to report back within 90 days a report exploring the feasibility of providing a senior safe home for victims of elder abuse who are at greater risk of falling into homelessness in Long Beach and Los Angeles County, including a list of any city owned properties or land in which a senior safe home could be established, and potential external funding sources.
DISCUSSION
Some seniors in our community are subject to abuse which studies show lead to greater risk of homelessness, early death, cause harm to physical and psychological health, destroy social and family ties, cause devastating financial loss, and more. According to the 2022 Point-in-Time Homeless Count, the City of Long Beach reported that about thirty percent of people experiencing homelessness in Long Beach are over the age of 55. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines elder abuse as an intentional act or failure to act that causes or creates a risk of harm to an older adult [age 60 or older]. According to research in the American Journal of Public Health, one in ten adults aged 60 years or older will have experienced some form of elder abuse within the past year. Elder abuse can quickly destabilize an older adult’s financial security and therefore lead to homelessness. Adult Protective Services (APS) reports that about ten percent of all reported elder abuse victims are at risk of losing their home. Elder abuse most commonly occurs at the hands of a caregiver or trusted individual.
The scope of the problem can be determined by research estimates and the number of elder abuse cases reported by county Adult Protective Services. Based on 2020 Census data, there are currently around 81,009 residents over the age of 60 in Long Beach, which leads to estimates of 8,000 of those individuals having experienced some form of elder abuse within the past year, and 800 of those individuals facing housin...
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