Colorado-Real-Estate-Journal_440783

Page 16 — Health Care, Senior & Life Sciences Quarterly — January 2025 www.crej.com SENIORS HOUSING ANNOUNCING LEADINGAGE COLORADO’S ONLINE DEMENTIA TRAINING COURSES PURCHASE AT WWW.LEADINGAGECOLORADO.ORG Initial Dementia Training Requirements T here are two training session options to meet the initial dementia training requirements - 4 and 6 hours. You will receive a Dementia Training Certificate after completion of the courses demonstrating your compliance with state requirements. The 4-hour training course is required by the state of Colorado for all direct care staff working in nursing homes, assisted living residences and adult day programs. The 6-hour training is required for direct care staff that work in a secured environment located in an assisted living residence. Continuing Education Requirements A minimum of two hours of continuing education is required every two years. LeadingAge Colorado is currently offering two different one-hour sessions to meet this requirement. Dementia and the Caregiver : This CEU course focuses on you, the Dementia Caregiver. Learn how to implement self-care, communicate more effectively, set boundaries and help prevent secondary trauma. Dementia and the Impact of Trauma: Trauma and trauma histories have a huge impact on people. It shapes how they respond to their environment, other people, situations and even words. Being aware of a potential trauma response is critical in caring for residents. It is import to note that some care tasks and interactions may be re-traumatizing. We also need to be aware that some challenging behaviors in residents may be due to trauma and not their dementia. This course helps you to realize the impact of trauma, how to better respond and minimize triggers. T he Colorado State Demog- raphy Office’s most recent foreca st projects a 10% increase in the Centennial State’s population by 2030. More than 50% of that growth w ill be people who are at least 65 ye ars ol d, with that demographic growing 36% during the rest of this decade. This increase will also include our state’s 75-years-and- older demographic going from 5.7% to 8.6% of the population. Colorado has usually had a much younger population – acc ording to the 2020 Census, it was t he fifth-youngest state in the United States, but as of 2023, it is now t he 10th youngest. Nancy Gedeon of the State Demog- raphy Office attributes this to an increase in the number of people choosing to age in place. While Colorado experienced sig- nificant population growth in the last 14 years – its population grew 14.8% between the 2010 and 2020 censuses and by 1.6% from 2020 to 2023 – housing supply has not kept up. The Common Sense Insti- tute found that the housing supply deficit in the seven-county Denver metropolitan area, if the permit- ting pro cess is res trictive, could be as high as 8.20%. A recent study by the Harvard Joint Center for Hous- ing Studies found that 24.7% of renters and 51.1% of homeowners in Colorado are at least “moder- ately cost burdened,” spending at least 30% of their income on hous- ing costs. For older adults, another JCHS study found that the number of moderately cost-burdened rent- ers rises to 28% and owners to 55% for those aged 65-79 and for those 80 and older stays the same for rent- ers (28%) but goes even higher for owners (67%). Affordable housing, includ- ing Section 202 housing for the elderly funded b y the U.S. Depart- ment of Housing and Urban Development, provides much-needed relief to this popu- lation. While those 62 and older make up 19.9% of the Colorado populatio n, 41% o f the 67,723 hous- ing units assisted by HUD have heads of household in that age group. Some 81% of these house- holds are “extremely low income,” making less than 30% of the area median income. But what happens in Washington, D.C., has serious consequences for this demographic. In December, Congress passed a continuing reso- lution that keeps funding levels the same as last year, meaning no new HUD funding for more subsidized housing. If this is not corrected before March 14, 2025, critical sub- sidies that make rent affordable for residents would be cut, meaning money for other basic needs such as food and health care will need to be put toward rent. Many seniors who live in HUD- funded buildings have experienced significant hardships before receiv- ing the lifeline of affordable hous- ing. LeadingAge Colorado members are on the front lines serving this growing population. At Kavod Senior Life in Denver, President and CEO Michael Klein said that the waitlist is at least 1 ½ years, with 244 people on it. “We have had people move into Kavod who were living in their cars before,” he said. Others moved into Kavod from hotels repurposed to house people experiencing home- lessness as well as women’s shel- ters. At The Argyle, CEO Tom Carlson told me that his team’s HUD-fund- ed building is at full capacity – and so is its waitlist. “Maybe two people left in the last year.” People on its waitlist are told to expect five- to 10-year waits before moving in. The Argyle wants to build more HUD- funded housing in Denver, but the barrier to entry and competition for properties make it difficult. The Argyle also works with Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly providers, who rely on Medicaid reimbursement, to provide health care to many of its residents. The current state budget proposal to keep Medicaid reimbursement stagnant, despite rising costs, will push more health care costs to res- idents and make it more difficult for them to afford rent. Vennita Jenkins, CEO of Senior Housing Options, shared with me that more than 50% of its residents previously experienced homeless- ness. Through an American Rescue Plan Act grant, SHO expanded its assisted living residence in Long- mont, where four units were added that will go to previously homeless individuals. Other units in that residence will go to former resi- dents of the Barth, an SHO facility in Denver that closed due to costly maintenance issues. The popula- tion it serves has an average annu- al income of $15,000, and many are mentally disabled. SHO has only one facility without a waitlist, with one facility having a two-year wait to move in. It frequently commu- nicates with people on the waitlist, and for those facing immediate hardship, SHO connects them with services and other agencies to assist them. No one, especially those who have had experiences like what is shared above, should be fear- ful that their housing stability could be jeopardized. Affordable housing, especially for seniors, ensures our society does not need to shoulder greater costs for this growing demographic. Please join us in advocating to the Colorado congressional delegation for HUD to be properly funded, and to Colo- rado General Assembly members for sufficient Medicaid funding, to keep as many members as possible of this vulnerable population in stable housing. Visit leadingage- colorado.org to learn how you can make your voice heard. s joseph@leadingagecolorado.org At a turning point: Senior housing scarcity in Colo. Joseph Dubroff Director of government affairs, LeadingAge Colorado