Morgan Hill’s population continues to age, along with that of the rest of the country, and many of the city’s older residents have moved here to take advantage of the quiet, small-town atmosphere and the brand new stock of housing available just for them that promises to grow with the 65-and-older segment.
Many of these new developments offer a variety of amenities, classes and on-site health services to ease the lives of senior citizens. Even with a number of new age-restricted housing units having recently been constructed and plans and permits for the building of hundreds more being processed, the demand for senior citizen housing and other services for older residents promises to continue to grow.
“The ‘silver tsunami’ is here, and we need to do something now,” said Morgan Hill senior center Director Susan Fent. “There’s a big shift in the demographics of Morgan Hill. For the first time ever there are more people older than 65 than there are children younger than 5. On a policy level, I hope our community continues to look at preparing itself for an aging Morgan Hill, a community where people of all ages can live and thrive in.”
People are living longer than they used to. In Santa Clara County, the fastest-growing segment of the population is residents 85 and older, according to the Council on Aging Silicon Valley.
According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the percentage of Morgan Hill’s population of residents age 65 and older is about 9.5 percent – up from 7.5 percent in the 2000 Census. The numbers of seniors in Morgan Hill grew from 2,508 to 3,598, or about 43 percent, in that 10-year period. Nationwide, the senior citizen population grew about 15 percent from 2000 to 2010 – more than any other age group except those 45 to 64. Even that group’s growth – 31.5 percent – indicates an aging population.
“We’ve known the need for senior citizen housing was there for a long time,” said Mayor Steve Tate, who as the chair of the board of directors for the former redevelopment agency has been an advocate of local public assistance for affordable housing programs. “The senior sector has been kind of left out of some of the stuff we’ve done with affordable housing money. Unfortunately, (Horizons) is going to be one of the last” projects that will benefit from the RDA, which was shut down by the state Feb. 1.
Facing a housing challenge
When city officials, developers and other community members celebrated the grand opening and ribbon-cutting of the Horizons senior housing development in February, the 49-unit complex that opened in December was already fully occupied. Located on McLaughlin Drive between Central and Main avenues, the complex features apartment units for residents age 55 and older, a swimming pool, exercise room and a variety of amenities and classes designed to make the residents’ lives as enjoyable as possible, according to the developer.
“We want to help keep the residents active and involved in the community, and provide the services they need,” said John Bigley, chief operating officer of UHC Communities, the developer of Horizons.
Horizons is just one of a handful of new senior housing developments that opened in recent months, which offer a variety of everyday assistance for those who plan to live there.
Horizons resident Dolores Badham moved in soon after the place opened in December. She moved there from Salinas to be closer to her daughter and son-in-law, who live in Morgan Hill. A retired teacher from the Salinas City School District, Badham likes her apartment at Horizons for a variety of reasons. One is it’s “pet-friendly,” and she lives there with her cat Janci. She said it’s quiet and “you would never know that someone is living next door.” The attractive layout of the building and the dedicated use of energy-efficient technology such as solar power are a plus as well, she said.
“It’s the first apartment I’ve lived in that has marble countertops,” Badham added.
Working with the Central Valley Coalition for Affordable Housing, the staff at Horizons offer classes and programs for residents such as health and fitness, computer classes, credit and financial advice and arts and crafts classes. Bigley added that the facility has a manager on site 24 hours who assists in the coordination of those programs, and will likely offer basic medical services such as blood pressure and cholesterol screening.
Horizons resident Florence Mannix, 68, said one of the best things about her one-bedroom unit is the low utility costs facilitated by the energy-saving construction features. Her power bill last month was only $39, she said.
Mannix, a retired Realtor and newspaper account executive, also moved to Horizons shortly after it opened, from Mesa, Ariz. Her son and daughter-in-law, and their two children, live in Morgan Hill and Mannix wanted to be closer to them.
The availability of on-site assistance is important for many seniors, Fent noted. And transportation is an ongoing challenge, especially for those who live in rural areas and those living on lower incomes.
Poverty among senior citizens will be a continuing issue as people live longer, Fent added.
Twenty-one percent of Morgan Hill seniors live below twice the federal poverty line of $907.50 per month for a single person, or $1,225 monthly for two people, according to the Council on Aging Silicon Valley. Twice the federal poverty line is considered “near poverty.”
In Santa Clara County, 8 percent of residents 65 and older lived below the poverty line, and another 17 percent lived near poverty. An estimated 15,300 senior residents of the county live at or below the poverty line.
“We need seniors to be able to occupy their home a longer period of time. The key is to make housing affordable,” Fent said.
The economics of age
The demand for new homes or apartments among the senior population hasn’t always been this high, according to planning commissioner Joe Mueller, who has served on the planning commission since 1989.
“In the last few years there’s been more interest in senior-type projects than there was for a fairly long period of time,” Mueller said. “Years ago there were other projects built, but there was a long gap in there when there was not much senior housing being built.”
Funding is still hard to come by, even for this sector of the population whose need for housing has grown faster than others in recent years. So builders, banks, developers and public officials have to get creative and collaborate to build projects like Horizons. A number of banks, the city’s redevelopment agency, Santa Clara County and a variety of sources combined to make the “complicated” transaction happen, according to Darren Smith of Bank of America, who spoke at the Horizons ribbon-cutting ceremony. The project was initiated 10 years ago and construction just finished last year.
The city’s redevelopment agency, before it was dissolved, regularly assisted on projects such as Horizons as part of its housing programs, according to city housing manager Erwin Ordonez. For the Horizons project, the RDA issued a development loan exceeding $4 million.
The RDA staff also provided “technical assistance” to affordable housing developers to let them know of all the financial assistance that was available, including possible grants, tax credits and loan sources.
Westmont of Morgan Hill on Cochrane Road is another new project devoted to seniors. It opened last year, and features both independent and assisted living, plus communal dining, organized activities and health services. A proposed 138-unit development for seniors will have a central kitchen, according to Mueller. The developer of that project, Global Premiere Partners, has acquired tax credits to assist with financing. Construction has not yet started at the future site of the project on Butterfield Boulevard and Barrett Avenue.
At the other end of the spectrum, a subdivision of single-family homes on Watsonville Road is proposed for “active seniors” age 55 and older, said Dick Oliver, president of Dividend Homes, the project’s developer. To be known as “Connemara,” the development will eventually consist of 37 market rate homes, from 1,500 to about 2,700 square feet.
“We haven’t had a project like that in Morgan Hill for a while,” Oliver said. He hopes to begin construction on the first 17 homes by spring of 2013.
Yet another proposal on a now-empty lot on East Dunne Avenue, next to Mamma Mia’s restaurant, will feature 40 age- and income-restricted units.
These new and proposed projects, comprising the bulk of new high-density residential construction in the struggling local market, combined with a number of existing senior housing developments in Morgan Hill that offer age-restricted, affordable housing that caters to the growing population of residents age 55 and older.
Another demographic trend in Morgan Hill and other cities is the arrival of new residents age 65 and older who are moving here to live closer to their children and grandchildren, Fent added. That’s one reason both Badham and Mannix moved to Horizons from Salinas and Arizona, respectively.
Mannix also likes the “small-town atmosphere” of Morgan Hill and its downtown, and the fact that she can walk to the bank or to a number of restaurants to eat lunch. At the same time, it’s close enough to other destinations such as San Francisco and Monterey to be convenient.
“It’s near things, and it’s far away from things,” Mannix said. “And it feels safe here.”
