Thank You and Thank You, Yvonne for telling me what you did. Everyone is right, this old man (LOL) has to simmer down.
I am an active 77 year old woman in reasonably good health. My social security payment in the United States is $722 a month. I have a Section 8 Voucher, so the rental I pay for my apartment is very low. Until last month, I qualified for Medicaid, and had already found a retirement home that accepted Medicaid. But my state has just disqualified me from Medicaid, for reasons that are legal but very unfortunate for me. A friend of mine has been looking around for retirement places, and the least expensive one he could find was $2200 a month. Average in my part of the USA is $3000 a month for a retirement residence. I'm sure there must be thousands or millions of other people in a similar position to mine. What do people do who can no longer maintain their own life in an apartment, and have no family they can rely on to live with?
Except for those who planned for it, investing in a plan to provide for their retirement days, I don't know of any way other than the Medicaid route, and that's not always a pleasant one. Even people who plan ahead sometimes find that something goes awry and they are downgraded from their high-living retirement home into something that is not to their liking.
How Do People On Social Security Afford Retirement Homes? Many but not all, have pensions and other assets to supplement their Social Security.
@Kitty Dee We survive having bought a modest home during the bleak days of the last recession. Still, our mortgage payment, including taxes and insurance is ~ $500 a month, which is more than 1/4 of our combined income. So, when one of us "kicks" the other will be SOL. My only thoughts would be to study and determine just exactly where rents are the lowest. I'm guessing that place will be in the boonies. Our property in Missouri was purchased for $120,000 with 3 families going in for 1/3 each. Thus, each of us got 100 acres for $40,000. Ours had an old farmhouse on it, which neither of the other two wanted. A nice crystal-clear year-round creek flowed clean across the three properties. Property taxes? One dollar per acre per year, a hundred bucks! The property was heavily treed, which provided for heat in the winter. We had electric power and telephone, but no internet until about 3 years after moving there. We lived there 13 years. Frank
@Kitty Dee - agree with you on this, people that have worked hard but the wage low, don't stand a chance Its the same over here (England) Retirement places are big business - the Pound or Dollar is all they see It may be the future, that a couple of friends get together to rent a place
Is it possible you could share your home with a younger relative?.. or move in with a younger relative or friend?
HUD? It’s an option but not necessarily a good option. It’s there for the elderly and low income families so it’s something that can be looked into. The houses aren’t normally anything to do somersaults over nor in the better neighborhoods but judging from what an acquaintance had and what he paid, it wasn’t too bad.
I always liked the idea of living that The Golden Girls sitcom presented. Although most of the time only three rooms were shown (living room, kitchen and maybe Blanche's bedroom) that was definitely an option to me when I was looking to the future at a younger age. With the exception of my mother I have opened my home to female family members and thought no, no nannette. Note: I wasn't married during those times.
Contact your Salvation Army- they can help you try and obtain some assistance. If not they have names of agencies that do. Also you can get food there and hygiene products. Will need picture ID and some proof of your financial issues.
This is exactly what I would be doing if something happened to Bobby, @Gloria Mitchell ! My SS pension is only a little over $400, and Bobby’s is not a lot more. Right now, we live in a house my daughter owns, but I would not be able to take care of it if I were alone, because Bobby takes care of almost everything. So, I would have to move to a tiny apartment somewhere, which was geared to low-income people.
With the cost of homes and rent, coupled with people unable to find work, I would think that there would be more of an industry involving caregivers moving in with elderly people to help with some of the things that they can't do anymore in return for room, board, and a stipend. There is a home healthcare industry, but it's high-end. Of course, without the high-end industries vetting caregivers, there would probably be cases in which these caregivers might become abusers. Then again, that happens anyhow, even when the caregivers are relatives.