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HERA is asking you to support our expanding our services to vulnerable seniors across the Bay Area.
Referrals to HERA of cases involving seniors in danger of losing their home to scams perpetrated by family, friends and professionals have jumped by 20% in the last 7 months in just our Bay Area Counties. Scams include home energy installation, and home repair scams, as well as outright deed theft. Entities referring cases to us include Adult Protective Services, local legal aid offices, private attorneys, and real estate and financial services professionals.
HERA fills a unique space. We bring attorney expertise in addressing financial abuses, problems involving mortgages and home repair scams, and a long history of working closely and successfully with older adults to save their home.
But we need your support to meet the need. We need to quickly expand our capacity to serve vulnerable older adults at risk of losing the roof over their head. These cases can be complex and time consuming, requiring interfacing with social workers, law enforcement and financial institutions.
$175,000 in 75 days. These are funds that would allow us to dedicate one full-time attorney plus paralegal time to defending seniors from the abuses we have described.
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21% of California adults over the age of 65 live below the poverty threshold of about $16,000 annually, when taking into account the higher cost of housing and health care.
"For the millions of older owners with limited incomes and wealth, however, these expenditures may present a financial challenge."
"In the past 10 years alone, the number of older households grew by over 7 million, rising from one in five households to one in four. By 2035, one out of every three households will be at least 65 years old.