​D. Imelda Padillo-Frausto is a graduate student researcher at the Center. Her recent study found that 772,000 California seniors are struggling to make ends meet. In this brief interview, Padilla-Frausto discusses how changes to a household can make it more vulnerable, the hardest-hit among the hidden poor, and the importance of supplementing Social Security.

Q: Your study makes a distinction between different types of households, like grandparents raising grandchildren and older adults housing adult children. Why are these particular families important?

​Economic status is very much affected by how ― and with whom ― people live. In California, about two-thirds of older adults are either single elders living alone or older couples living by themselves. The remaining one-third live in other types of arrangements.

Those other arrangements include grandparents raising grandchildren and older adults housing adult children. We focused on these two groups because they are particularly vulnerable. These are seniors who are struggling with additional household costs and financial responsibility. As our study reveals, grandparents raising grandchildren are disproportionally affected by economic insecurity.

Q: Your study shows the number of California women age 65 and older (286,000) in the "hidden poor" group is more than double that of men in that age range (106,000). Why is that?

​In general, women live longer than men but earn less over their lifetimes. According to the National Partnership for Women and Children, the average lifespan is 82 for women and 77 for men. Historically, the earning power of women has been much lower than that of men, so women have less savings and Social Security benefits than men. Combined, those play a big role in why the number of women in this group of "hidden poor" is so much greater than men.

Q: Doesn't Social Security bridge the gap between poverty and a decent standard of living?

​Many more of the "hidden poor" would be beneath the federal poverty level without Social Security. However, the benefit doesn't stretch as far because the cost of housing and health care keep rising. Social Security accounts for 64 percent of low- and middle-income seniors' family income, according to the AARP, and the average annual benefit in California was under $15,000. According to the Elder Index, that wouldn't even cover annual rent in the least expensive county in California (Kern at $18,781.)