Senior struggles

The Evangeline Booth Garden Apartments complex in Ocala is one of the local facilities accessible to low-income seniors. [Photo by Andy Fillmore]

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Posted July 23, 2025 | By Andy Fillmore, [email protected]

If you’ve shopped for groceries or an apartment lately, you get it—things have gone up.

Increases in food, housing, utilities and insurance costs have been felt by all consumers, but perhaps most hard hit are seniors living on Social Security income alone.

The U.S. Census states that as of July 1, 2024, 28.5% of Marion County’s population of 428,905 was over 65 years old.
Karla Greenway, CEO of Interfaith Emergency Services, one of the largest nonprofit help agencies in the county, said she has definitely seen senior clients impacted by housing and cost of living increases.

“We have heard multiple stories from seniors on a fixed Social Security income that had their rent raised by $200 to $400 per month.  For some, this increase exceeded the total amount of their monthly income,” Greenway wrote in an email.

“Add to that the increased cost of utility bills and they are no longer sustainable. Food costs have increased 20% just in the past four years. That has a significant impact when someone is trying to survive on $1,000 or less each month,” she wrote.

Jason Halstead, executive director of Brother’s Keeper, an outreach of Blessed Trinity Catholic Church that helps the “needy and marginalized” said the ministry helps “easily” dozens of seniors weekly for help on utility bills, food and rent assistance.

“When costs increase, or an event such as car repairs, home repairs or health issues occur, many seniors struggle making ends meet,” Halstead wrote in an email.

The Ocala Housing Authority handles Public Housing, Housing Choice Voucher Section 8 low-income rentals and HUD Veterans Administration Supportive Housing, ocalahousing.org states.

OHA maintains 185 public housing units for eligible families in the Deer Run, Pavillion Oaks, Shady Hollow and Pine Garden complexes, which offer one- to four-bedroom apartments and some efficiency units. Under the HCV program, families choose the rental location and pay an adjusted percentage of the rent, according to the website.

OHA Compliance Director Jacalyn Brown stated in an email that the HCV program filled quickly during a recent application window.

“Our Housing Choice Voucher waitlist opened on June 24, 2025, at 9 a.m. We accepted 2,000 applicants. We reached the maximum quantity of 2,000 cut-off by 11:30 a.m. We had a list of 34 applicants that were elderly or disabled, one of which is an 84-year-old woman that sleeps in her car. She was recently evicted,” Brown stated.

Brown said the 84-year-old woman is now on a wait list.

“We do not have a definite number of the elderly because some of the applicants may have sought the assistance of family members to apply on their behalf. We have not evicted any seniors from our public housing or open market units,” Brown indicated.

“We continue to have new landlords apply to assist our families. We conduct landlord briefings on the last Wednesday of each month,” she stated.

According to the Urban Institute, “over the past two decades, the number of senior households considered severely cost burdened—those spending more than half their income on housing—has nearly doubled, rising from 5.2 million to nearly 11.7 million, according to American Community Survey data.”

“And the share of severely cost-burdened senior households has increased. In 2000, 11.5 percent of households headed by someone 50 or older were severely cost burdened. By 2020, the share increased to more than 16 percent,” the website states.

Several local facilities offer affordable housing. Some have a multi-year rental unit waiting list.

Goodwill’s Heritage Oaks of Ocala at 2820 SW 34th St. is a 72-unit one-bedroom apartment complex that offers residents 62 and older, with limited income, housing tailored toward seniors, with a community room, sun room and “shopping and medical facilities nearby,” goodwill-suncoast.org states.

The complex is HUD subsidized to “reduce rent to 30% of income. The waiting list for these apartments are closed due to excessive wait times and we are not currently accepting new applications,” the website indicates.

Trinity Villas in Ocala and the Salvation Army’s Evangeline Booth Garden Apartments both provide HUD Project Rental Assistance Contract supported apartments where, for example, seniors may pay 30% of adjusted monthly income for rent.

The Catholic Charities of Central Florida website indicates that Trinity Villas Senior Housing is part of that ministry.

Rebecca Cronkite, assistant manager at Trinity Villas, which is located at 3728 NE 8th Place, said the complex has 162 one-bedroom apartments, 165 current residents and a renter waiting list estimated at two years plus.

Cronkite said she gets “so many homeless people calling,” perhaps 10 a day.

At the Evangeline Booth Garden Apartments, at 2921 NE1 4th St., Saira Singh, HUD Housing Program Director and a staff of four, oversee 65 units that were built in 2000. Singh said she gets many calls daily from people of all ages looking for affordable housing on a limited budget in an economy where a one-bedroom apartment might cost upwards of $1,200 monthly. She said the wait list has about 76 applicants and represents about a 3 ½-year wait.

Singh provided a tour of the apartment complex, which includes a community room, classroom for courses like crafts, a library with internet access and a community kitchen with a dining area.

Pets are allowed, with some restrictions and an initial fee. The 512-square-foot apartments have appliances and security phones to buzz in visitors. Residents must pay their electrical bills and meals. Internet is available in individual rooms.

A beautification project is underway and Singh said her motto is that the facility should be kept like she would want her mother to live in.

Three residents who preferred to be identified only by first their names, Larry, Janet and Fannie, discussed living at the apartments, which are named after the daughter of the founder of the Salvation Army. Janet, in her 70s, said she feels “safe” at the complex and all three residents indicated that comparable housing at a similar price is likely not available.

Singh said a number of residents gather to search specials and clip coupons to maximize their shopping budget and make group trips to the market.

Singh refers some callers inquiring about available units who do not qualify for the facility to other shelters or agencies and distributes a booklet put out by the Ocala/Marion County Joint Office on Homelessness. The booklet provides contact numbers for various help agencies like Interfaith Emergency Services, Salvation Army, Community Action Stops Abuse (CASA) and the Arnette House for ages 10-17.

The nonprofit Marion Senior Services can provide help for qualified seniors in areas of food, transportation and in-home light housekeeping, shopping and laundry assistance and meal making services, which may provide budget relief.

Marion Senior Services officials said most people want to stay in their own homes and that calls are received daily about services. According to figures provided by the agency, incoming calls asking about services have increased from about 1,500 last June to 1,989 calls this year.

The agency aids about 70,000 people annually, with a budget of $12,000,000, an agency official stated.

Marion Senior Services is funded by the State of Florida Department of Elder Affairs, Florida Department of Children and Families Services, Florida Department of Transportation, Commission for the Transportation Disadvantaged, United Way of Marion County and private donors, according to agency literature. Those served include seniors, 60 and over, as well as disabled and disadvantaged persons under age 60 on a disability.

Marion Senior Services Executive Director Jennifer Martinez said she’s “definitely seen an increase” in persons on a fixed income seeking help, especially in light of increases in the costs of housing, food and more.

“People are barely hanging on and anything can tip the boat and upend a budget,” Martinez said.

Martinez said having “a heart” for the people the agency serves is essential.

Marion Senior Services oversees daily group meals for about 425 seniors in their homes or in group meals at the agency’s main headquarters at 1101 SW 20th Court, Ocala, and at the Marion Oaks and Forest community centers.

For guests like “Renee,” age 65, assistance from Marion Senior Services has allowed her to remain in her apartment and care for her 86-year-old mother. She expressed some frustration with the wait time to enter Marion Senior Services but an official explained that a “risk factor” scale is used in processing applications and enrollment times may vary.

“Renee” said now that she’s set with Marion Senior Services, their help is “wonderful” and she is working toward a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice online.

The Marion Transit Division of Marion Senior Services maintains a fleet of 50 buses to assist “transportation disadvantaged” persons with physical or mental disabilities or due to age cannot drive, according to Florida statutes, the  website indicates.

Passengers are helped with transportation to essential destinations such as doctor appointments or shopping by drivers like US Navy veteran George Myers III, who pilots one of the 14 passenger vans which can also accommodate three wheelchair passengers.

Cindy Moody, Marion Senior Services fund development officer, said the transportation service makes all the difference for some seniors.

“A passenger told us once ‘I would never have known what a beautiful day it was if you hadn’t picked me up,’” she said.

Elizabeth Colon, community resource specialist with Marion Senior Services, said she has seen cases as extreme as seniors calling from their hospital beds after being discharged with no place to go.

Moody said the “common thread” with seniors is “isolation.”

To learn more, go to marionseniorservices.org, mariontransit.org, Iesmarion.org, ocala.salvationarmyflorida.org and bkocala.org