La Mesa is set to receive applicants for its first-ever Older Adult Rental Assistance Program, with priority to the severely-rent burdened who apply by April 4.
The 40 selected to participate will receive $500 monthly stipends paid directly to their landlords for 12 months. Jewish Family Service of San Diego (JFS) is partnering with the city to run the program and providing case management alongside the rental assistance.
“While $500 per month is not a comprehensive solution to housing affordability, it is a targeted, research-backed intervention designed to stabilize housing and provide time for seniors to access additional support if needed,” said Mayor Mark Arapostathis. He noted it is a way to prevent homelessness so seniors can age in place with dignity.
Homelessness among seniors continues to grow across California as this population often has a fixed income amid rising housing costs.
In 1992, 11% of the homeless population were older adults while those over 50 accounted for nearly half the homeless population in 2023, according to the California Commission on Aging. In La Mesa, a quarter of the unhoused individuals contacted by La Mesa’s Homeless Outreach & Mobile Engagement (HOME) Team in 2023 were over the age of 55.
Elderly homelessness is increasing faster than any other age group.
From 2017 to 2022, the number of adults over 65 accessing homelessness services increased by 166%. The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research’s Elder Index found 41% of San Diego seniors do not have enough income to pay for necessities like housing, food, healthcare and transportation.
“The majority of their limited income is going towards rent, and then they’re oftentimes one medical bill or car accident away from being short on rent,” said Kristine Stensberg, senior director of aging and nutrition at JFS.
Many of those economically homeless individuals are on the streets for the first time at a late stage in their lives, an experience correlated with cognitive impairment and decreased health. In a Serving Seniors studyin 2021, more than half of surveyed homeless older adults said an additional $300 per month would have kept them housed.
Preventing homelessness can have higher up-front cost for communities. However, it is cheaper in the long run when interventions like street outreach, law enforcement response, shelter options, getting re-housed, and emergency medical care add up. Some mental health issues may never arise if an individual stayed housed. Health issues worsen and become more expensive while an individual is unhoused.
“The longer unhoused, the more [older adults] have rapid cognitive decline, major health issues that go unaddressed, and so the challenges become bigger. So now they’re unhoused, but they also have early signs of dementia. They have untreated diabetes,” said JFS’ incoming CEO Dana Toppel. “When we’re housed, all of us have better health and better mental health.”
The County announced its Homeless Diversion Program, which kept close to 500 households in 2024 from first-time homelessness through one-time payments with an average cost of $3,150 per household, was a fraction of the cost of assisting a household to exit homelessness.
The pilot program is modeled after the County and San Diego City’s Senior Shallow Subsidy Program. 
While it is a pilot program in La Mesa, Toppel emphasized that this is not new work for JFS. They have partnered with governments in the past for Guaranteed Income pilots and have a privately-funded subsidy for impoverished Jewish older adults. As they evaluate the effectiveness of the program, one thing that could change is cuts to benefits from the federal government, making it a tumultuous period for clients
“I also envision we’re going to help navigate things that they haven’t had to navigate, which is, how do they get health care, if indeed those those services are cut. So I think it’s an interesting time to be doing this pilot,” said Toppel, who is also vice chair of the California Commission on Aging.
The program is paid for by one-time ARPA funds. The city would need to seek state and federal grants, regional partnerships, or other housing-related funding opportunities to extend the program past one year. With the year deadline in mind, JFS plans to ensure participants find a sustainable housing situation through case management.
With the added case management, JFS hopes it can prepare seniors for the next two or three decades so they will not immediately be at risk of homelessness again once the subsidies end. Case managers will help recipients budget, apply to other assistance programs like CalFresh, and explore cheaper housing options like adding roommates. JFS has several other in-house services it can tailor to program participants – delivered meals, grocery delivery, pet food, behavioral health programs, and a day center. JFS does not cover long-term housing or medicine, but hope seniors can afford those if they are helped in other ways.
“Those can help offset other expenses so people can free up money for their rent,” Stensberg said. She added that one of the most difficult parts of the program is knowing the need far outstrips the funding. For a county stimulus program, JFS received 30,000 applications for a program with only a few thousand spots. They had to close the application window early.
JFS and the city collaborated to make the criteria for the rental assistance program, hoping it will be utilized by those who need it the most. Applicants must be 55 and older and reside in the incorporated area of La Mesa with a household income at or below 50% of the city’s median income, with priority given to those making 30% at or below the city’s median income. They must be currently spending at least half of their income on rent or be at risk of losing their housing.
To apply and learn more, visit jfssd.org/our-services/older-adults/la-mesa-older-adult-rental-assistance or call (858) 637-3217.
JFS is hosting optional listening sessions for interested La Mesa residents on March 20 from 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. and 6 – 7 p.m.
JFS staff are also available, by appointment only, to answer questions, help determine eligibility and begin the application process during office hours on March 24 from 1 – 4 p.m., March 26 from 9 a.m.- noon, and March 27 from 4 – 7 p.m.
Individuals can call (619) 667-1322 to reserve a 20-minute appointment.
All sessions are hosted at the La Mesa Adult Enrichment Center located at 8450 La Mesa Blvd.
(Photos courtesy cityoflamesa.us)
