Elderly are the fastest growing homeless population

Way2tired, You get it! I don't understand why more don't realize what you said and how truly significant it is. When I was growing up in the 70's, my family was able to afford a nice middle class home in better than average suburb. On one salary, my father was a manager of 2 parking garages. My mother eventually went to work part time and then full time as an office secretary, but both my parents were just high school graduates and worked simple jobs. The house they owned in 1980 is worth over $500k today. Today, the kind of jobs my parents had would maybe pay $20 an hour. There is no chance they would be able to buy the house they bought 45 years ago. Not everybody is capable of becoming a doctor or lawyer or successful businessman or a high paid professional. We all have different abilities and personal situations. That doesn't mean these people who don't make a lot of money don't work hard. Most of them do. Think of the aids and orderlies in our nursing homes. How in the world are they going to be able to retire and afford a place to live when they are older? How can they save for retirement when the little money they make now all goes to living expenses and trying to survive week to week?

This former death row prisoner who killed his dad and stepmom 42 years ago is well able to continue his life at Corcoran.

“The yard had lush grass, a couple of run tracks, a softball field, soccer field, workout areas with pull-up and dips bars, but the thing I noticed the most was how many old guys were on the facility. I had been just about the oldest guy at the maximum-security yard, but here there were wheelchairs, walkers, men carrying canes, all wearing green mobility-impaired vests. I also noted there didn’t seem to be any tension, prisoners were not grouping by race, no one seemed to be hyper-vigilant, the atmosphere was relaxed, almost cheerful, quite alien to my experience”

https://minutesbeforesix.com/wp/medium-security/

mstrbill, So very true . Thank you for adding that . I was only thinking in terms of people with illness with no where to live and get care when they can’t care for themselves. But yes there are many others that can’t find affordable housing .
There are also many more rich people than ever before . It’s the haves and the haves not now. Middle wage earners used to be the largest population , it’s been shrinking and shrinking . The population of lower wage earners is increasing. Wages have not been keeping up with inflation or the cost of housing for many years .
Meanwhile CEO’s and others high up in companies make ridiculous amounts of money compared to 50 years ago . Percentage wise their salaries have gone up so much more than inflation has .
Where I live on the east coast, there are alot of pretty old people working in the stores mainly as cashiers .

Way, in addition to the mentally ill and addicted, there are increasing numbers of adults aged 50 and over who work, but are not able to earn enough money to afford rents in many places. Especially on the west coast, in addition to the drug addicted, there are many adults living out of their cars because they don't earn enough money to pay the market rate rents in the area. There is simply not enough housing for our lower wage earners.

I agree with mstrbill. It’s going to get worse. They still don’t have proper housing or care for all the mentally ill of all ages either. Many of them are homeless or in jail with nowhere else to go. It’s been like this for decades.

Peggy,

You make a valid point. I’m sure that some elderly folks may be desperate enough to go that route to acquire food and shelter.

Needs,

It’s getting to the point that an elderly might as well go into a bank and hand them a note so they go to federal prison. There are at least services there.

Peggy,

Thanks for sharing this information. It’s tragic, devastating and heartbreaking to see this happening in our country.

It’s very depressing and extremely concerning. It’s way past time for positive changes.

I see several major issues in this article, the elderly, our homeless situation and the drug crisis that we have in our country.

Oh, and let’s not forget that at this point in time, we don’t exactly have great candidates to vote into office.

Thank you for posting this. I hate to say it, but the way things are going, I truly believe this situation is going to get much worse. If we don't find a solution, as in building much more affordable senior housing, the homeless problem will be multiple times worse 10 years from now.