America's Aging Homeless

by Shannon Moriarty · 2009-06-22 06:36:00 UTC
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Picture your grandparents. Now picture your grandparents living homeless on the streets.

Heartbreaking, right? I'm sure you'd rather not think about it.

Perhaps this is why a growing homeless sub-population is flying under the radar. Instead of living large post-retirement, many elderly individuals are living on the streets or in shelters. They are the elderly homeless, a particularly vulnerable population that is all too often left out of the conversation about homelessness in America.

The more one thinks about the prospect of living without a home as an elder, the more disturbing it becomes. Being homeless can be physically demanding, requiring one to stand in lines for shelter beds or walk to different parts of a city for different services. Elderly people are also more likely to be in poor health than the general population, which complicates matters even more. Access to medicine and proper care is difficult when you're living without a permanent address.

An recent article in the Berkeley Daily Planet described this recent trend among those seeking services:

More generally, an aging population-the latest mark of baby boom demographics-swells the homeless count as well. Add on the current economic crisis, and older adults who were teetering on the edge or not even so close-those who lost a job, a pension, their mortgaged house or rented apartment-suddenly face the rudest of awakenings, tossed into the homeless mix.

As Baby Boomers age, and older Americans fall on tough economic times, greater attention certainly needs to be given to the unique needs of older homeless individuals. As Jeannette Ilagan writes in this paper, helping homeless elders "will require multidisciplinary approaches that offer age-sensitive services, have minimal barriers to access, and are accommodating for the frail and multiply diagnosed senior."

The "Golden Years" shouldn't have to mean panhandling.

Shannon Moriarty has worked in various homeless shelters and service organizations around the country. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.
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