My fiancé’s mother is a quadriplegic. She cannot get out of bed, bathe or eat without another person’s help.
Several times this year, her scheduled caregiver never showed, and no one called to warn us. We found out only because we called first, wondering why she was still lying in the same position and without water several hours later. That is Marin’s caregiver shortage, seen from inside the bedroom of the person living through it.
Novato has more at stake than most of Marin. Nearly a quarter of our residents are 65 or older, well above the county average. We also sit farther from the caregiver pool concentrated near San Rafael, so our seniors compete for the same shrinking workforce while offering longer drives and less efficient days.
Countywide, nearly 10% of approved In-Home Supportive Services hours went undelivered in 2023 because no caregiver was available. Those are hours a doctor already decided someone needed to stay safely at home. Marin’s senior population is projected to grow another 15% over 20 years, even as our total population shrinks.
The Board of Supervisors deserves credit for raising IHSS wages toward $21 an hour by 2027. But that contract ends just as Novato’s need keeps climbing, and a countywide registry of roughly 450 providers cannot cover a city with more than 12,000 seniors.
Novato needs its own seat at this table: caregiver data broken out by city, recruitment incentives for providers serving North Marin and a City Council that treats caregiver housing as a workforce issue, not just a county one.
Every supervisor and council member will someday be old, or love someone who is. My fiancé’s mother cannot wait for the next contract cycle. Neither can the families behind her.
Mike Little is an engineer who lives in Novato with his fiancé and daughter. He is running for Novato City Council.
