More and More Seniors Are Among America's Homeless

[OneEyedDiva]

And unlike what someone insinuated in another post...it's through no fault of their own. Fixed incomes, often poverty level or not much higher, rising rents, lost income opportunities due to their ages and/or the pandemic, huge medical bills and rising rents are among the causes.
"We’re seeing a huge boom in senior homelessness,” said Kendra Hendry, a caseworker at Arizona's largest shelter, where older people make up about 30% of those staying there. “These are not necessarily people who have mental illness or substance abuse problems. They are people being pushed into the streets by rising rents."

This is a very sad situation and like the saying goes "There but by the grace of God go I". People who never thought they'd be homeless are now.
“I’d always worked, been successful, put my kid through college,” the single mother said. “And then all of a sudden things went downhill.” Corley traveled all night aboard buses and rode commuter trains to catch a cat nap. "And then I would go to Union Station downtown and wash up in the bathroom,” said Corley. She recently moved into a small East Hollywood apartment with help from The People Concern, a Los Angeles nonprofit."

"A 2019 study of aging homeless people led by the University of Pennsylvania drew on 30 years of census data to project the U.S. population of people 65 and older experiencing homelessness will nearly triple from 40,000 to 106,000 by 2030, resulting in a public health crisis as their age-related medical problems multiply." Read the entire article:
https://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/wireStory/americas-homeless-ranks-graying-retire-streets-83996564

 

[Lavinia]

When you say 'homeless' are they actually living on the streets, or being forced to sleep on someone's sofa? I don't know the situation in America but here in Britain, many of the institutions have closed down. People with mental health problems are forced to turn to charity for help. They are just overwhelmed

 

[OneEyedDiva]

When you say 'homeless' are they actually living on the streets, or being forced to sleep on someone's sofa? I don't know the situation in America but here in Britain, many of the institutions have closed down. People with mental health problems are forced to turn to charity for help. They are just overwhelmed

Did you read the article?

 

[Lavinia]

Did you read the article?

No, I can't open links on this device, so I miss a lot.

 

[OneEyedDiva]

No, I can't open links on this device, so I miss a lot.

No, I can't open links on this device, so I miss a lot.

Well even if you can't open the link...this an excerpt from the article as shown in the OP:
“These are not necessarily people who have mental illness or substance abuse problems. They are people being pushed into the streets by rising rents."

 

[hollydolly]

Unfortunately many people in the UK too are being priced out of the housing market, rents and mortgages are sky high, and sadly the 'grey market' are those who are suffering more and more.. recently retired and perhaps divorced or bereaved and unable to afford the rising living costs .

On Youtube it's heartbreaking to see so many videos of people particualrly in parts of the USA living in cars and makeshift camp-sites, who have worked all their lives and now found themselves homeless through circumstances beyond their control

They say all of us are just 3 pay cheques from the same fate

 

[Becky1951]

Federal Poverty Level (FPL)

Family size	2021 income numbers	2022 income numbers
For individuals	$12,880	$13,590
For a family of 2	$17,420	$18,310
For a family of 3	$21,960	$23,030
For a family of 4	$26,500	$27,750

5 more rows

Federal Poverty Level (FPL) - HealthCare.gov Glossary​

https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/federal-poverty-level-fpl/
My income and many more seniors are below poverty level.

$841 That's $10,092 a year. That's $3,498 below poverty level.

SSI amounts for 2022
The monthly maximum Federal amounts for 2022 are $841 for an eligible individual, $1,261 for an eligible individual with an eligible spouse, and $421 for an essential person.
https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/SSI.html#:~:text=SSI amounts for 2022,$421 for an essential person.

SSI Federal Payment Amounts for 2022​

 

[Aunt Bea]

I haven't seen any evidence to support this claim in my area.

At this point, the supply of subsidized senior housing options appears to match the need.

I have seen a change, in this area, from the days when some elderly people lived in residential hotels and rooming houses because they couldn't afford an actual apartment. Today the trend in this area is to enroll many of these people in Medicaid and place them in assisted living facilities.

Inflation and rising prices are a sad fact of life for all of us.

I'm afraid it will be more of an issue as we continue living longer in retirement.

 

[Alligatorob]

Inflation and rising prices are a sad fact of life for all of us.

I'm afraid it will be more of an issue as we continue living longer in retirement.

Yep, and I have no doubt it will lead to more homelessness.

I don't think I will ever become homeless, but I do worry that inflation will erode the value of my retirement savings, impacting my standard of living. Not so serious as becoming homeless, but irritating none the less.

 

[hollydolly]

Federal Poverty Level (FPL)

Family size	2021 income numbers	2022 income numbers
For individuals	$12,880	$13,590
For a family of 2	$17,420	$18,310
For a family of 3	$21,960	$23,030
For a family of 4	$26,500	$27,750

5 more rows

Federal Poverty Level (FPL) - HealthCare.gov Glossary​

https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/federal-poverty-level-fpl/
My income and many more seniors are below poverty level.

$841 That's $10,092 a year. That's $3,498 below poverty level.

SSI amounts for 2022
The monthly maximum Federal amounts for 2022 are $841 for an eligible individual, $1,261 for an eligible individual with an eligible spouse, and $421 for an essential person.
https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/SSI.html#:~:text=SSI amounts for 2022,$421 for an essential person.

SSI Federal Payment Amounts for 2022​

$841 , is that your income Becky ?

 

[Flarbalard]

That's for SSI not social security. Some folks only get social security and that can be less, more than 100 less, than 841 depending on earnings and what age they had to draw on it.

 

[Liberty]

Houston has done a great job of finding homes for the homeless. This has been an ongoing effort
for years now. It would be nice if all cities could take up the torch and do something similar:

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/ne...ps-houston-decommissioned-cities-16641827.php

 

[Myquest55]

I saw that article too - Thanks for sharing it, Diva. I have a friend who is unexpectedly homeless. Could she have planned better? Perhaps, but now that she is almost 80, she has nothing. The "system" has let her down over and over. She has no Soc. Sec. and the SSI is about what Becky posted - around $841/month. How can person live on that? Rents are over $1000 for a clean place, then you have car insurance, gas, groceries and utilities. We, and several others have helped along the way but it will never be enough. Plus, we planned carefully for our own retirement and we don't know what the future holds for us.

She has gotten promises from untold agencies, given "vouchers" and told she was "on the list." They tell her to call back, then never answer the phone or messages. She was able to stay in a crappy, bug infested hotel for winter but now they have told her she can just live in her car! Every housing group charges for a "Background Check" and her credit score is low - because she has no place to live, thus cannot work (especially from home) so they will not accept her voucher. She has never been homeless before. She is a cancer survivor and it may be back now. She says that the government agencies ( Fed. & State) just hope she will go away or die. It seems to me to be a HUGE scam. Several groups appear to have NO idea what they are supposed to do for these people. Others, want to help but there are SO many waiting - they are overwhelmed.

I'd love to hear if there are any solutions to this. It is frightening.

 

[Pepper]

When there's a will there's a way and we have no will when it comes to helping people in need; there is also not enough will to vote and to vote for one's own interest rather than one's religious persuasions. When we look at the times we actually did stuff, notice the rich were taxed.

I can say no more.

 

[Liberty]

I saw that article too - Thanks for sharing it, Diva. I have a friend who is unexpectedly homeless. Could she have planned better? Perhaps, but now that she is almost 80, she has nothing. The "system" has let her down over and over. She has no Soc. Sec. and the SSI is about what Becky posted - around $841/month. How can person live on that? Rents are over $1000 for a clean place, then you have car insurance, gas, groceries and utilities. We, and several others have helped along the way but it will never be enough. Plus, we planned carefully for our own retirement and we don't know what the future holds for us.

She has gotten promises from untold agencies, given "vouchers" and told she was "on the list." They tell her to call back, then never answer the phone or messages. She was able to stay in a crappy, bug infested hotel for winter but now they have told her she can just live in her car! Every housing group charges for a "Background Check" and her credit score is low - because she has no place to live, thus cannot work (especially from home) so they will not accept her voucher. She has never been homeless before. She is a cancer survivor and it may be back now. She says that the government agencies ( Fed. & State) just hope she will go away or die. It seems to me to be a HUGE scam. Several groups appear to have NO idea what they are supposed to do for these people. Others, want to help but there are SO many waiting - they are overwhelmed.

I'd love to hear if there are any solutions to this. It is frightening.

What state does she live in?

 

[Don M.]

As inflation continues to rise, so too, will the numbers of those living in poverty. Fewer than 15% of today's employers offer defined pension plans, and many of today's workers cannot afford to invest in a 401K/IRA, until they are well into their 40's or 50's. Social Security barely pays enough to supply just basic needs, and unless some major changes are made to that program, it will barely exist in a very few years from now.

Seniors who were unable to prepare for retirement are going to be hit especially hard in coming years.

 

[OneEyedDiva]

I saw that article too - Thanks for sharing it, Diva. I have a friend who is unexpectedly homeless. Could she have planned better? Perhaps, but now that she is almost 80, she has nothing. The "system" has let her down over and over. She has no Soc. Sec. and the SSI is about what Becky posted - around $841/month. How can person live on that? Rents are over $1000 for a clean place, then you have car insurance, gas, groceries and utilities. We, and several others have helped along the way but it will never be enough. Plus, we planned carefully for our own retirement and we don't know what the future holds for us.

She has gotten promises from untold agencies, given "vouchers" and told she was "on the list." They tell her to call back, then never answer the phone or messages. She was able to stay in a crappy, bug infested hotel for winter but now they have told her she can just live in her car! Every housing group charges for a "Background Check" and her credit score is low - because she has no place to live, thus cannot work (especially from home) so they will not accept her voucher. She has never been homeless before. She is a cancer survivor and it may be back now. She says that the government agencies ( Fed. & State) just hope she will go away or die. It seems to me to be a HUGE scam. Several groups appear to have NO idea what they are supposed to do for these people. Others, want to help but there are SO many waiting - they are overwhelmed.

I'd love to hear if there are any solutions to this. It is frightening.

You're welcome, of course. I'm so sorry for your friend. The series of events and situations (probably too many face) that you describe are an excellent example of why people are in such dire straits and wind up homeless. I've also heard stories about the red tape, the reluctance of landlords to take vouchers and the lack of credit history or a good FICO score being a deterrent to getting decent housing. I know someone who was $1 over the criteria to get public assistance so even though she needed it, she couldn't get it. Luckily one of her sons was able to help out and she did not wind up homeless. I know for a fact that public senior housing in my area charges only 30% or 33% (I forgot which) of a person's income but has waiting lists of up to 3 years.

 

[OneEyedDiva]

Houston has done a great job of finding homes for the homeless. This has been an ongoing effort
for years now. It would be nice if all cities could take up the torch and do something similar:

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/ne...ps-houston-decommissioned-cities-16641827.php

I was thinking the same thing Liberty. Why can't cities use programs that are showing success and model them? Perhaps if they weed out the wastefulness in their budgets and really put some effort into it, they could.

 

[Becky1951]

$841 , is that your income Becky ?

Yes.

 

[StarSong]

You're welcome, of course. I'm so sorry for your friend. The series of events and situations (probably too many face) that you describe are an excellent example of why people are in such dire straits and wind up homeless. I've also heard stories about the red tape, the reluctance of landlords to take vouchers and the lack of credit history or a good FICO score being a deterrent to getting decent housing. I know someone who was $1 over the criteria to get public assistance so even though she needed it, she couldn't get it. Luckily one of her sons was able to help out and she did not wind up homeless. I know for a fact that public senior housing in my area charges only 30% or 33% (I forgot which) of a person's income but has waiting lists of up to 3 years.

Public assistance housing is hard to find in much of the US because the waiting lists are so long and a lot of landlords don't want the hassle of dealing with the government or people with histories of not paying their bills.

Unfortunately, homelessness is a rising problem in the US and most countries around the world. The contrast between so many living in extreme poverty and the obscene flaunting of wealth by multi-millionaires and billionaires is nothing short of revolting.

 

[David777]

Wall Street corporations, REITs, banks, real estate corps and their armies of house and apartment flippers, their politicians and news media, the construction industry, are all preying on we defenseless working people caught in the middle with little leverage since we all need a place to live. And politicians ignoring laws, have made sure to let excessive numbers of low skill immigrants in to put pressure on scarce lower cost housing for our suffering lower classes causing horrible homelessness while allowing wealthy foreigners to bid up buying up real estate out pricing our middle classes. The big squeeze feeding frenzy Wall Street business news brags about to any worldwide wealthy investors. And our Ivy League elites are preaching diversity while ignoring their master's unethical game.

https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2017/11/low-skill-immigration-case-restriction/
snippet:

...that native workforce participation has steadily declined as low-wage immigration has increased and is now at historic lows. That situation tells us that immigrants are performing entry-level work that less-educated native workers are not doing, even though low-skill Americans are increasingly available to perform these tasks. The second points to an extensive ethnographic literature on employer preferences, which has not until now been brought into the debate on low-wage immigration. That research shows that businesses widely regard American-born low-skill employees as less desirable than immigrants. In addition, there is evidence that businesses actively work to recruit immigrants and avoid native workers, with black entry-level employees the least favored...

 

[Gaer]

Houston has done a great job of finding homes for the homeless. This has been an ongoing effort
for years now. It would be nice if all cities could take up the torch and do something similar:

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/ne...ps-houston-decommissioned-cities-16641827.php

Texas seems to have it all together in many areas. Yes, It would be nice if other states copied Texas in a lot of ways.

 

[Nosy Bee-54]

Texas seems to have it all together in many areas. Yes, It would be nice if other states copied Texas in a lot of ways.

I guess it depends on what you are looking at.

"Texas' homeless suffer due to lack of public housing as public camping is criminalized."

"A state law banning homeless encampments took effect September 1 in Texas. House Bill 1925 makes camping in an unapproved public place a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $500."

"Texas has not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). As a result, Texas has the biggest coverage gap in the country, with an estimated 771,000 residents ineligible for Medicaid and also ineligible for premium subsidies to offset the cost of private coverage in the exchange."

"$15.3 billion – Federal money Texas is leaving on the table in 2022 by not expanding Medicaid"

https://www.healthinsurance.org/medicaid/texas/

As another poster said, people should vote self-interest.

 

[StarSong]

I guess it depends on what you are looking at.

"Texas' homeless suffer due to lack of public housing as public camping is criminalized."

"A state law banning homeless encampments took effect September 1 in Texas. House Bill 1925 makes camping in an unapproved public place a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $500."

"Texas has not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). As a result, Texas has the biggest coverage gap in the country, with an estimated 771,000 residents ineligible for Medicaid and also ineligible for premium subsidies to offset the cost of private coverage in the exchange."

"$15.3 billion – Federal money Texas is leaving on the table in 2022 by not expanding Medicaid"

https://www.healthinsurance.org/medicaid/texas/

As another poster said, people should vote self-interest.

Gotta wonder if some of the drops in Texas' homeless population aren't due to migration by the desperate to states with less draconian laws and more forgiving social services.

 

[Jeni]

I think right now we will see many seniors falling on harder times ....especially if in working years they had low income jobs ...
Those retiring now are mostly depending on 401k type retirement investments vs pensions ...... so many factors with that as many simply do not watch or change if needed just assume.

In early years and even now many people are not saving .... FALSELY believing SS would carry them through... SS was always supposed to be a supplement NOT a sole source of retirement income.
Many people that I know ............simply are unaware of how their check for SS was determined or based on:

"Not everyone receives the same Social Security benefits. In fact, your benefits are based on many factors including the age when you claim benefits, how much you earned over your career, and how many years you worked and paid into the Social Security system."

I have no idea how some ladies I know will manage............. as their working life I doubt reached enough years to collect squat.....

Yes, rents have exploded most places and health issues can eat through the best planned savings ....
It is very hard if no family to live with and i have seen the roommate scene go bad as ways to cut costs.....