Yesterday the Associated Press reported that there is a crisis of senior homeless in Arizona, According to the article, this crisis is likely to get worse, "Academics project their numbers will nearly triple over the next decade, challenging policy makers from Los Angeles to New York to imagine new ideas for sheltering the last of the baby boomers as they get older, sicker and less able to pay spiraling rents."

​The fact that this national trend is having an impact in our neighboring state raises the question of whether we are experiencing a similar problem in Utah.  According to Utah's state homelessness dashboard, 949 of the 4,624 people who used emergency shelter services in Utah between January 1 and March 15 of this year were age 55 or older.  72 percent of these older people experiencing homelessness lived in Salt Lake County.

The total number of people in Salt Lake County experiencing homelessness over the age of 55 is increasing at about the same rate as the general increase in homelessness.  However, people over 55 are having a harder time exiting homelessness.  Between January 1 and March 15, 2022, the percentage of all people using emergency shelters  who were able to exit homelessness was 36 percent.  For people aged 55 and older, only 27 percent were able to exit homelessness.

If people aged 55 and older continue to exit homelessness more slowly than younger people then the share of beds being taken up by older homeless people will steadily increase each night.  At some point, the shelters where childless adults can live will become de facto senior centers.

Seniors generally have at least Social Security income and so an increase in senior homelessness generally corresponds to increases in the price of rent.  On April 1st, the Deseret News reported that the price of the average two bedroom apartment in Salt Lake County increased by 43 percent last year.  By contrast, the Social Security cost of living allowance increase for 2021 was only 1,3 percent.  

Salt Lake County and state leaders can respond to this problem by promoting the development of more affordable housing.

If you agree that Utah needs to stop taxing basic necessities like bread, milk, fruits and vegetable, reach out to the leaders of the Utah House of Representatives and let them know:

• Speaker of the House:  Representation Brad Wilson,  bradwilson@le.utah.gov  (801) 538-1029
• ​House Majority Leader:  Representative Mike Schultz, mikeschultz@le.utah.gov  801-859-7713
• Majority Whip:  Representative Jefferson Moss,   jeffersonmoss@le.utah.gov 385-250-6738
• ​Minority Leader:  Representative Brian King,  briansking@le.utah.gov 801-560-0769
• Minority Whip:  Representative Karen Kwan, kkwan@le.utah.gov  385-249-0683

In order to better serve the people who need us, Crossroads Urban Center enhanced existing programs and added new services in 2021:

• Our Virginia A. Walton Emergency Assistance Fund provides transit passes, gasoline vouchers, prescription assistance, and help with utilities for families facing shutoffs. In 2021, we increased the budget for these services by $20,000. We are helping more families avoid utility shut offs than ever before. We’ve also greatly increased the number of transit passes we distribute at our downtown pantry.
• We increased the availability of vouchers for new kids shoes for children in need through our Thrift Store. Children and youth ages 2 to 16 are now eligible for shoe vouchers once each year. Homeless youth up to age 18 are also eligible for shoe vouchers.
  
• We can now help people experiencing homelessness get ID’s and birth certificates free of charge. Crossroads has long played the role of certifying Utah residency for people without a fixed address for the purpose of obtaining ID. This is always a critical need, especially among the unhoused people we serve.  
• Crossroads initiated a new, twice-a-week distribution of grocery rescue items at our downtown facility in partnership with the Utah Food Bank. People can come to us on Mondays and Thursdays to get surplus food that has been picked up from local grocery stores. This program is in addition to our regular food pantry service, and serves hundreds of people each month.
  
• Our hours of operation are longer than ever. Our Thrift Store is now open from 10 AM to 6 PM, Tuesday through Friday, and the Westside Food Pantry is open four full days each week (closed Wednesdays).  
• We have expanded eligibility for our regular emergency food service. Families and individuals needing a three-day supply of emergency food can now come as often as twice each month, while people experiencing homelessness can get day bags of food as often as three time each week.
  
• Because we are serving so many unsheltered people at our downtown facility, we have increased the availability of blankets, hats, socks, and gloves for the people coming to us for help.

The Coalition of Religious Communities continues to work tirelessly to end homelessness in Utah.  This year, CORC focused on the unprecedented allocation of federal funding arriving in Utah as part of the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA).  CORC held a press conference in July outside the County Government building to remind policy-makers of their role in making sure housing is available for everyone.  The press conference, along with subsequent meetings and forums, called for Salt Lake County to designate 20% of its ARPA funding to deeply affordable housing.  CORC advocated for this model to be adopted by other Counties and City governments.  CORC's top priority going into the 2022 Utah state legislative session is engaging with policymakers and the public to end the sales tax on food.  A surplus in the Utah economy allows for an opportunity to eliminate a tax that many other states do not have and that disproportionately affects people in poverty.  CORC will host a rally on Thursday, January 20, 2022 from 11am-noon at the North steps of the Utah State Capitol building.  To learn more about the sales tax on food and CORC's fight to end homelessness, sign up for our Hunger & Homelessness weekly update.  


Powerful Moms Who Care has focused on the needs of low-income families through community organizing in 2021. We have collaborated with numerous local organizations that work with families and have forged new community partnerships. In May we released our Family Supportive Housing report on the moms’ ideal model of what permanent supportive housing for families with children would look like based on their lived experience and tours of affordable housing in Salt Lake. Leaders were able to share this with local decision-makers and explain the need for more housing. We widened our online presence in order to be as safe as possible with the pandemic, by creating a new website, sending monthly newsletter updates with events, posting on our Facebook groups and hosting monthly Zoom member meetings and information sessions. In September we co-hosted a multi-day community organizing training for group leaders with the Disabled Rights Action Committee. We also organized Parent Community Forums in person and virtually to hear from parents about their struggles. Lastly, we explored more solutions to child care access and look forward to continuing in the new year.

Report link: https://www.powerfulmoms.org/_files/ugd/260458_7688acadf291466c935913131acd1a7a.pdf 
Website: https://www.powerfulmoms.org/ 

On Wednesday, November 24, four members of the Utah House of Representatives, Representative Jenn and two members of the Utah State Senate showed up to a press conference supporting Representative Rosemary Lesser's bill to eliminate the state portion of the sales tax on food.   We want to thank all of the legislators who showed up in support of this bill by name:  Senator Luz Escamilla, Senator Derek Kitchen, Representative Jennifer Dailey-Provost, Representative Gay Lynn Bennion, Representative Elizabeth Weight and Representative Angela Romero.

You can learn more about the press conference by reading the stories about it from KUTV,  KSL Television, Fox 13,  KUER, KSL,  and the Standard Examiner.

It is wonderful that five members of the House and two members of the Senate who have publicly said they support this bill.  However, to pass the bill will need 38 votes in the House and fifteen votes in the Senate.  How can we get enough legislators to support the bill that it passes during the upcoming legislative session, which begins on January 18, 2022?

The first step is to reach out to members of the House of Representatives to support the bill because the House is where  it will get its first votes.  Fortunately, a bill eliminating the sales tax on food passed in the House only a couple years ago, during the 2018 general session. When the 2018 bill, HB 148, was brought up for a vote it had 30 cosponsors.  Many of the 2018 cosponsors are still in the Legislature.  Can you help ask them to show they still support eliminating the sales tax on food by reaching out to Representative Lesser and asking to be a cosponsor to her bill for the 2022 legislative session?