Keeping seniors in their homes – Prop 13′s success
“(Westchester Village Network) We are a new non-profit organization founded by volunteer Westchester, California residents, with the mission of helping Westchester senior citizens stay in their own homes as they grow older. “
By pure coincidence, there is a front page article in the January 3rd issue of the Los Angeles Times on a subject that once haunted California’s homeowners and threatened the viability of senior citizens to even live in their own homes.
Had it not been for an event in 1978 to protect homeowners from losing their homes as described in the article, there might not be a market today to provide services for seniors staying in their homes such as what the village network proposes.
The Los Angeles Times article, Montana’s big sky views become big tax horrors describes a situation being played out there where seniors are being forced out of their homes by the state. Homes that owners do not want to leave but are forced to do so because they cannot afford to pay skyrocketing property taxes that are linked to the current market value of surrounding homes.
Because property taxes in Montana are linked to current market value like ours were before Prop 13, people who had purchased their homes when they were younger adults are finding themselves unable to pay property taxes that are up to a thousand times higher than what they paid when they first bought their homes.
Prior to 1978, many of California’s seniors were literally being thrown out of their homes by tax assessors. Had it not been for the voter revolt and subsequent voter initiative Prop 13 that won with 65% of the vote, there probably would not be any market for organizations such as the Westchester Village Network to exist today. Aging adults would have been taxed right out of their homes leaving almost no market for home services.
Proposition 13 capped property taxes at 1% of the property value and limited annual increases to 2% per year. It allowed re-assessment only when the property changed ownership thus protecting homeowners in their later years as their incomes peaked or became fixed as they retired.
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