Photography by Megan Mumford
It’s no secret that the US is in a housing crisis. A severe shortage of homes has made the cost of living skyrocket, and Americans of all ages are feeling the strain. But the lack of affordable housing is hitting seniors especially hard.
“We absolutely, positively do not have enough affordable housing,” says Diane Conroy-LaCivita, executive director of Colonie Senior Service Centers (CSSC), an organization with the simple mission to support older adults. “People who might be retiring with a small pension and social security cannot afford market rates right now.”
Case in point: All four of the affordable senior living communities CSSC operates have waiting lists. One facility’s is upwards of five years.
And the data backs up Conroy-LaCivita’s anecdotal evidence: Nearly a third of households headed by seniors pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing, with half of that group paying more than 50 percent.
All this was exacerbated by the pandemic, during which Conroy-LaCivita’s staff dropped from 62 to 11. “Those 11 of us were working seven days a week and we were doing 12-hour shifts,” she says. “But it opened our eyes. Things that were never on my radar came on my radar real quick.”
During that period, Conroy-LaCivita realized just how many Albany County seniors struggle to put food on the table and heat their home, and how such struggles disproportionately affect immigrants, refugees, and LGBTQ seniors. Those realizations informed how CSSC has operated ever since the pandemic: The nonprofit now has a line of affordable frozen soups and meals that seniors can stop in and pick up, hosts ESL classes twice a week, and has a program for LGBTQ seniors and allies called Aging with Pride. Add in CSSC’s Umbrella program, which provides affordable home maintenance that allows seniors to age in their homes; transportation services that keep seniors connected with their community even after they hand over their car keys; and a whole slate of arts, education, and fitness programming, and Conroy-LaCaivita is truly making the Capital Region a better place, one senior at a time.
