WASHINGTON _ After her daughter died from lupus, Charlene Green was left caring for her two grandchildren. But their housing situation was precarious at best: mold and mildew everywhere, ceiling caving in.
To get her landlord to make much-needed repairs in their Washington, D.C., apartment, the 62-year-old withheld rent _ only to be threatened with eviction.
So, when her grandson told her about Plaza West, a new affordable housing complex that reserves 50 of its 223 units for grandfamilies _ families made up of grandparents raising grandchildren _ Green said it felt godsent. Now, she lives in a modern three-bedroom apartment in a building that combines the companionship of other grandparents with baby-sitting and tutoring on site, provided by the city and building management.
"I never would have thought I'd be living here," said Green, who works part-time cleaning offices when she isn't taking care of her 10-year-old grandchild. Her 21-year-old grandchild also lives with her. "Where I was living before wasn't worth paying rent."
More grandparents are raising their grandchildren, in large part because of the opioid epidemic. Some, like Green, find themselves parenting again because of chronic illness, incarceration or homicide. More than 20% of grandparents raising grandchildren are living below the federal poverty line. More than a third of them are over 60. Most are single.
In 2017, 2.7 million children in the U.S. were being raised solely by their grandparents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And as of 2017, 2.4 million grandparents were solely responsible for the care of their grandchildren. The number of children in the foster care system being raised by relatives jumped 9% between 2008 and 2017, according to Generations United.
Many grandparents find their existing housing isn't suitable for their suddenly expanded family, and children are barred from nearly all subsidized and most market-rate senior residences.
"Housing can be a big challenge for grandfamilies," said Ana Beltran, special adviser to Generations United, a Washington, D.C.-based research and advocacy group. "Grandma may be retired and living in a condo and doesn't have enough space for grandkids."
"Or maybe she's on Section 8," she said, referring to the federal rental voucher program, "and can't get a bigger unit."
Counting those that are under development, there are now 16 residences in nine cities that reserve at least some units for grandfamilies, according to Generations United. Plaza West, a $90 million, 12-story complex funded with private and public dollars, opened in September 2018. It is equipped with a library, a gym, a computer lab for kids and a lounge reserved for adults. It also offers on-site counseling for families, to help them navigate the intricacies of the child welfare and social services systems.
"There's definitely an uptick in interest in housing for grandfamilies," Beltran said. "But they're incredibly difficult to get off the ground."
That's because most of the public housing stock has deteriorated to the point that it's "rotting," said Samuel Little, founding president of the National Alliance of Resident Services in Affordable and Assisted Housing, a nonprofit based in Baltimore that works with public housing employees and residents to shape national housing policy.
There's no federal funding to renovate these buildings, which reduces the available housing stock, Little said. To get housing developments financed, public and private organizations must collaborate. Then, too, they must find funding for supportive services for families and make sure that the complexes are close to grocery stores and other amenities.
"There's a need for grandfamilies housing that's become more apparent," Little said. "And we've been much slower than what's reasonable to address it."
Ela Rausch, who does community development research for the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and wrote her dissertation on grandfamilies, said some complexes that are designed for them have rules and regulations that end up keeping them out.
She cited a residence in Tucson, Arizona, that had no grandfamilies living there in 2016, when she wrote her dissertation, because it required grandparents to have proof of permanent legal custody of their grandchildren. (The Primavera Foundation, which manages the Las Abuelitas development in Tucson, declined Stateline requests for comment.)
Still, Rausch said, well-designed grandfamilies housing "really helps provide emotional support for these families."
"I'm happy," said Cassandra Gentry, 67, who in August 2018 became one of Plaza West's first tenants, before its official opening in September. "I'm very happy. Somebody bought into what we needed."
