KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The city of Knoxville and AARP are working together to fix the affordable housing crisis, especially for our senior adult communities.
On Thursday, the AARP hosted a round table discussion with the city about how senior adults face homelessness because of the lack of affordable housing and rising costs.
City leaders are working to fix the issue.
“Everybody needs a safe place to live, they need affordable housing, they need housing, where if you have an injury or temporary or permanent mobility issues that you can still live,” said Mayor Indya Kincannon.
Mayor Kincannon said millions of dollars are going toward affordable housing for everyone, including our aging seniors.
“Fifty million of local dollars toward the construction of new affordable housing. And we've already created and contributed to the construction of over 1,600,” Kincannon said
While the city continues to build more housing, Knoxville's population continues to grow and seniors are often overlooked.
“There's nowhere to live. You know, as seniors become aging out, we need to start looking at places not only for them to live, but places for them to be around younger people,” said community advocate Vivian Shipe.
At a round table discussion, AARP advised the city of Knoxville on what they can do to make housing affordable for all.
“Helping to reduce folks energy bill, helping folks with insurance payments. Those are major chunks out of people's checks every month,” said Martin Penny, a Tennessee State director for AARP.
Research shows that 85% of Tennesseans want to age in their homes, but Tennessee ranks 43rd lowest in the country for the cost and accessibility of care, services, and supports that older adults would need.