Some seniors struggling as Wake County housing costs soar

Larry and Essie Jefferies are those kind of people. They've lived in Apex for more than four decades.

"It has changed a lot – more people, more traffic," Essie Jefferies said.

Perhaps most importantly, it's more expensive.

"I've been working all my life, and I thought I had everything planned out right," Essie Jefferies said.

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But now on a fixed income and with rising housing costs, it's hard for the Jefferies to get by. They are struggling each month to find a way to pay all of the bills.

"We do see seniors in our neighborhood and our area that have been living here for a long time, and as the prices go up, their budget gets tighter and tighter," said Beth Bordeaux, executive director of Western Wake Crisis Ministry.

The WWCM saw a 23% increase in the number of families they served between 2017 and 2019, and a good bulk of the people they help are older than 65.

A WWCM food pantry provides healthy options to help take a little of the stress away.

"I didn't think I would ever be coming to a food bank," Larry Jefferies said.

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The organization also provides visits from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill nursing students, who provide counsel about healthy eating. It's something that can be hard to think about when you are wondering where your next meal is coming from.

"It is difficult, and that is one of the things that we try to do — to provide them with the knowledge of how to make healthy choices when they come to the food bank," said Marianna Cockroft, a clinical associate professor of nursing at UNC-Chapel Hill.

It's all meant to help people like the Jefferies, who would like to stay in the community they have lived in for 40 years despite the rising costs.

"Places like this, if you do come into a financial strain, they try to work with you," Essie Jefferies said.