A successful program in Santa Monica, California is simply helping folks who need help.
The city is building on a pilot program it launched last year that offered between $200 and $660 a month in rental assistance to nearly two dozen seniors.
“We’d like to expand this program tenfold,” said Santa Monica’s Housing and Economic Development Director Andy Agle. “We’re taking our program from $200,000 to $2 million a year. That’s a huge ramp-up.”
Agle said he anticipates Santa Monica will now be able to help 250 to 400 senior households with the added cash.
Although Santa Monica saw a 3% rise in senior homelessness over the last year, no one in its rental subsidies pilot program suffered that fate.
“It’s really showing some success,” Agle said.