Help for our Senior Population
Our elderly are the fastest-growing population facing homelessness. Seniors are facing challenges at an alarming rate, yet they are one of our most vulnerable populations, with the fewest avenues for protection.
Gaslighting our homeless population isn’t a solution. It’s a refusal to acknowledge how broken our systems have become.
We have seniors who worked their entire lives, paid off their homes, and played by the rules—only to now face losing those homes because of rising property taxes and the increasing cost of living. Fixed incomes aren’t keeping pace with those increases.
In New Hampshire, seniors can qualify for a property tax reduction known as the Elderly Exemption RSA 72:39-a, if they are at least 65 years old, have lived in NH for three consecutive years, and meet strict local income and asset limits. While this helps some, individual towns set their own income limits above the state mandated $13,400 for single applicants and $20,400 for married applicants. This is not enough to live on, and not all towns increase these limits. Raising the state mandated limits is something I plan on working on.
NH also has a Property Tax Deferral program, RSA 72:38-a, for seniors and disabled individuals. There are several drawbacks to this program, one being that deferred property taxes build up an annual interest charge of 5% until paid.
Uncontrolled rent increases are hurting everyone, but telling seniors to “get another job” is especially cruel and completely disconnected from reality.
And housing isn’t the only crisis facing our elderly.
Healthcare costs continue to rise, while cuts and underfunding are putting enormous pressure on an already strained system. For-profit long-term care facilities are increasingly putting profits before people. Staffing cuts leave caregivers overworked, underpaid, and burned out, while growing patient loads make it harder to provide the quality care our most vulnerable deserve.
When did we become a society that turns a blind eye to suffering?
When did “get another job” become an acceptable response to poverty and homelessness?
When did profit become more important than people?
This has to stop.
In Concord, I will fight for policies that help seniors remain safely and affordably housed. I will fight for affordable healthcare and stronger protections for our most vulnerable residents.
I will fight for caregivers, because the people caring for our elderly deserve fair wages, reasonable workloads, and the support they need to do their jobs.
And I will fight against the idea that government should stand by while people suffer simply because helping them isn’t profitable.
People are not profits. Seniors are not numbers. Caregivers are not disposable.
We can choose a different path—one where dignity matters, where compassion isn’t weakness, and where government works for people instead of leaving them behind.