The Sunshine State is the sunset state for many of the 75,000 elderly people whose needs are left unserved in government subsidized housing, says a University of Florida researcher. While the popular image of Florida retirees includes retirement centers with tennis courts and golf courses, those who live in government housing are more likely to be frail, ignored or subject to the whims of their apartment managers, said Stephen Golant, a UF gerontology professor who is launching a statewide, 19-month study of the problem. Given the state's sizeable elderly population and the wave of aging baby boomers, the findings could provide guidance for the rest of the nation, he said. This simply is not the case.
Federal programs are small and erratically funded.
Because residents of subsidized housing are largely female with little education and no economic clout, managers often determine whether they remain in their apartments or are forced to move to nursing homes or someplace else with more supervision once they become frail, Golant said. Their mishaps and illnesses are much less a private affair. Nationally, about 25 percent of older people living in low-income housing suffer from some form of frailty, making it difficult for them to get around and take care of themselves, whether it is shopping, cooking or bathing, Golant said. About 7 percent experience problems with mental functioning, ranging from occasional memory lapses to the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, he said. When an elderly resident of government housing breaks a hip and must spend months recovering in a rehabilitation center, the housing manager may decide it is too costly to keep the patient's apartment vacant and rent to someone else, he said.