More and More Seniors Are Among America's Homeless

OneEyedDiva said:
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
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i just can't imagine. it's so heartbreaking to hear about these kinds of things but when the money is gone it's gone. i think the way seniors are treated is terrible. we may be old but we're still here and we still have the right to live our lives on our own terms. but the US has no respect for aging citizens.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
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
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Great Pink Floyd Claymation video "On the Turning Away" showing what you are speaking of. Beautifully done and heartbreaking.
 
SeniorBen said:
The U.S. has no respect for anything but money.
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I disagree. We spend nearly half the Federal budget on Social Security and health insurance. Poor people in every state have access to a range of food and housing programs. There are multiple non-profit programs aimed at helping needy seniors, as well.

Housing inflation is indeed rampant, but the problem isn't so much with greedy "flippers" but with state and local governments that crimp supply with extensive zoning, environmental and other regulations. Another problem is the shortage of workers willing to pound nails and carry bricks, despite good wages in construction. Needed houses just aren't getting built. Add in market distortions caused by the pandemic, and inflation caused by multi-trillion dollar stimulus injections into the economy, and you have a real mess.

I might also point out that adding hundreds of thousands of low-skill immigrants pushes up rental and, ultimately, purchase prices at the lower end of the market.

No one wants seniors to be homeless. Targeted, sensible interventions at the state and federal level can solve this problem. We're talking about 30,000 people in a country of 330 million, fewer than 1000 people per state.
 
Greatly disagree with some of @JimBob1952 post that to this person reads like what those causing this situation and their powerful media and politicians want people to believe instead of Wall Street, financial and real estate corps, REIT's. Wall Street where they arrogantly have been openly advertising to the wealthy across the world to buy into their real estate investment corps so they can skewer the rest of we defenseless working class Americans as much as they can like it is some kind of legitimate and ethical game.

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David777 said:
Greatly disagree with some of @JimBob1952 post that to this person reads like what those causing this situation and their powerful media and politicians want people to believe instead of Wall Street, financial and real estate corps, REIT's. Wall Street where they arrogantly have been openly advertising to the wealthy across the world to buy into their real estate investment corps so they can skewer the rest of we defenseless working class Americans as much as they can like it is some kind of legitimate and ethical game.

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We post here to agree and disagree. The shortage of affordable housing is a problem with many causes. REITs and others buying up single family homes may indeed be a contributing factor, but there are many other factors as well. This report that Habitat for Humanity co-sponsored with Harvard University seems like a pretty objective look at the big picture.

https://www.habitat.org/costofhome/2022-state-nations-housing-report-lack-affordable-housing
 
OneEyedDiva said:
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.
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Whenever I hear of a solution that may lessen the homeless situation, there is always the same response, not in my neighborhood. I know that everybody wants something to be done, but talk is cheap, action takes sacrifice and commitment to and for the cause.
 
25 years ago Reno had a very small homeless population that was mostly people with substance abuse problems. Now that’s radically changed. Seniors are among them. I see young working people on Nextdoor asking for tips on how to find apartments they can afford. Some people are renting out rooms in their homes.
 
dko1951 said:
Whenever I hear of a solution that may lessen the homeless situation, there is always the same response, not in my neighborhood. I know that everybody wants something to be done, but talk is cheap, action takes sacrifice and commitment to and for the cause.
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Well I can say that apartments to rent are sure going up in people's neighborhoods. I know I've mentioned this numerous times but plots of land that sat vacant for years (I've lived in this county over 25 years) started getting apartments built on them after the fire destroyed so many homes. A triangle of land for sale for years and years, big sign, sold with now "luxury" apartments built on that triangle. At least they take pets. But it's sandwiched between two busy roads.

Two plots of land a few blocks away from each other on a very busy street no one seemed interested in, now both have had apartments put on them. Rent. Nothing affordable to buy. That's what they want from people. Rent money or to buy their big oversized house that was built.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
My BFF and I were discussing the pitiful state here in the states and she brought up how people cry socialism and don't really know what the hell it means. They go by what they think it means. And you're right, such labeling, along with other excuses, is preventing the powers that be from doing the right thing by we citizens.
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It's such a buzz word.

Kid going to a public school? (I never had kids but pay taxes for public schools. It's part of living in a society. And don't get me started on my experiences in the public school system)
Driving down the road and over a bridge?
Called the fire department?
Went to the library?

I'm sure smarter people can think of more.
 
Remy said:
It's such a buzz word.

Kid going to a public school? (I never had kids but pay taxes for public schools. It's part of living in a society. And don't get me started on my experiences in the public school system)
Driving down the road and over a bridge?
Called the fire department?
Went to the library?

I'm sure smarter people can think of more.
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Socialism is easy to define: It's government ownership of the means of production and distribution. So, under true socialism everything is owned and run by the government or "the people" -- not just utility companies and railroads but food production companies, warehouses and stores, phone companies, you name it.

The things you mentioned aren't socialism, they are just government.

Examples of "real socialism" include Cuba, North Korea, the USSR under Stalin, and China under Mao. People cite Scandinavian countries as examples of socialism, but they are actually capitalist countries with strong social welfare programs.

The UK experimented with socialism, nationalizing such things as airlines. The results were fairly miserable.

The great thing about real socialism is that its adherents never learn from their mistakes.
 
@JimBob1952 I do think they are socialism. The countries you would describe would be communist. Wouldn't countries with the stronger social programs be more socialist? I don't know. I'm not an expert. I know there is one cable news station that likes to shout the word.

When I was a teenager, 16 maybe, we went to East Germany because my mother was from Dresden. We never made it to Dresden due to car trouble but that was something most Americans have never seen. I still remember the guards and when we left. The trucks going through the border to the west, had soldiers going around with dogs and mirrors under the trucks. I remember my mother stating "I guarantee you all those truck drivers are married with kids so they know they will come back. They aren't sending single men out driving those trucks." I'm sure she was right. My mother hated the Eastern block and said she never thought she would see it end.

Those people had no freedom. They could leave. It wasn't like an Israeli Kibbutz that I would assume is considered socialism. Those people were free to leave if they wanted.
 
Remy said:
@JimBob1952 I do think they are socialism. The countries you would describe would be communist. Wouldn't countries with the stronger social programs be more socialist? I don't know. I'm not an expert. I know there is one cable news station that likes to shout the word.

When I was a teenager, 16 maybe, we went to East Germany because my mother was from Dresden. We never made it to Dresden due to car trouble but that was something most Americans have never seen. I still remember the guards and when we left. The trucks going through the border to the west, had soldiers going around with dogs and mirrors under the trucks. I remember my mother stating "I guarantee you all those truck drivers are married with kids so they know they will come back. They aren't sending single men out driving those trucks." I'm sure she was right. My mother hated the Eastern block and said she never thought she would see it end.

Those people had no freedom. They could leave. It wasn't like an Israeli Kibbutz that I would assume is considered socialism. Those people were free to leave if they wanted.
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Socialism has little to do with social programs. It's all about who owns the means of production and distribution. Communism is just an intensification of socialism, with more emphasis on the political system.

Many kibbutzes have "gone private" since the 1980s and now embrace capitalism. Also, kibbutzes are small-scale, not on a national basis.

As I said earlier, socialism sounds nice to many people. The big problem is that it doesn't work.
 
I saw an add on Yahoo finance about senior housing..no waiting lists, so out of curiosity, I clicked the link. There were other links for other types of senior housing. One of the listed apartments (in N.Y.) startied at $7,900 a month. WTH!! Of course it had lots of amenities but really?!
 
OneEyedDiva said:
I saw an add on Yahoo finance about senior housing..no waiting lists, so out of curiosity, I clicked the link. There were other links for other types of senior housing. One of the listed apartments (in N.Y.) startied at $7,900 a month. WTH!! Of course it had lots of amenities but really?!
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Wow, isn't that something? You wonder why it doesn't dawn on the people who offer senior places that are that expensive that most people who could afford to pay that much money can afford to stay in their great big nice home and hire full-time, live-in help and usually will.
 
Due to a significant loss of income I was compelled to live in a trailer for my last three years of living in the USA. It wasn't bad, but I still had more money going out than I had coming in so I moved overseas and bought a nice 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom house in a gated community near the beach. Life is very affordable here in Thailand and the quality of dental and medical care is outstanding.IMG_0263.JPG
 
I sat on a jury where a gentleman that had mental health issues represented himself. He wanted out of the institution so he could live in a homeless camp instead. He was a real character, I had a laughing fit sitting in seat #1. I thought I was going to get arrested because I couldn’t get it under control. The rest of the case was sad sad. This guy has no chance really.
 

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