Help for those who are elderly and poor

But without social security, many seniors would be in greater financial trouble. Nicole Woo is the senior analyst for the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice.

“The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington D.C., estimates that over a hundred thousand people—mostly seniors—are kept out of poverty by social security. It really is the only sort of guaranteed income that most seniors have that won’t run out no matter how long they live. And so,  in many ways, we need to protect that.”

Woo says Hawaiʻi has the highest cost of living in the U.S., and the focus should be on building more senior housing.

“The state government and city government could look to see what other jurisdictions have done ,and try to access any federal funds out there for senior affordable housing. And, hopefully, developers can work with them and maybe take a little less for profit or try to take some risks to see if there’s a way to help house our seniors who are in poverty.”

Woo says government-sponsored retirement savings plans could also help future generations. Gima says AARP Hawaiʻi will join 30 other states to push for a “Work and Save” retirement program during the next legislative session. Money will be automatically taken out of a worker’s paycheck before it’s issued and that should help everyone.

“Half of the workers in Hawaiʻi, about 216,000 workers, do not have payroll savings. If low income workers were able to save a thousand dollars a year, the state would be able to save $32.7 million in public assistance costs, like Medicaid, you know, food stamps; costs for people who only depend on social security to survive. And state and federal savings would be more than $160 million, just for the state of Hawaiʻi.”