Two private organizations are giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to expand a program that helps older residents pay rent at a time when federal leaders are shrinking the social safety net.

The Seniors Safe at Home initiative, which offers participants a few hundred dollars a month, will now be able take on 25 new people at risk of homelessness. The Rancho Santa Fe Foundation gave $100,000 while the Lucky Duck Foundation chipped in $600,000.

Some money will also go to the nonprofit Serving Seniors to help older adults find jobs.

“We need a shift in how we address homelessness,” Melinda Forstey, Serving Seniors’ president and CEO, said in a statement. “We ask policymakers to look at the return on investment and prioritize spending for proven, cost-saving approaches.”

Homelessness has grown almost every month in San Diego County since at least late 2021, and older adults make up a significant share of that population. The most recent point-in-time count found 1,657 individuals living outside or in vehicles who were at least 55 years old. That amounted to 29% of everyone lacking shelter in the county.

The program is overseen by the San Diego Housing Commission and 36 people are currently enrolled, according to Lucky Duck spokesperson Brian Hayes. Participants receive between $250 and $750 a month depending on their income. In contrast, allowing somebody to end up outside often costs significantly more.

Each person in a shelter can come with a $120 per night price tag — which adds up to more than $43,000 a year — while outdoor encampments trigger a range of hidden costs, from cleaning crews hosing down sidewalks to paramedics rushing to emergencies. A decade ago, Santa Clara County in Northern California calculated that homelessness overall was annually bleeding half a billion dollars from local budgets, mainly because of medical needs.

“We are proud to join this effort and hope others — especially in government — will recognize the urgency and affordability of funding and expanding programs like this,” said Rancho Santa Fe CEO Ben Moraga.

Lucky Duck initially contributed half a million dollars to the effort in 2023. Seniors Safe at Home has enough money to last between a year and a half and two years and proponents asked residents to consider donating.

Prevention initiatives have historically received less support than some other forms of homelessness services, although demand is high: Thousands of people applied for a few hundred spots in a separate rental aid program for older adults run by San Diego County. Unless new funds are added, that effort will end in June 2026.

It’s unclear if elected leaders are willing to invest more in this approach. The city, county and state all recently wrestled with deficits and the federal government has been both slashing its workforce and attempting to reduce the size of health care programs like Medicaid.