Homelessness Is Not a Retirement Plan – Seniors on the Streets

When the Golden Years are Not So Golden

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about growing up poor and with a disability. I discussed how I often went without healthcare as a young adult because I lacked insurance and got by as best I could. During that time, I also experienced episodes of homelessness. Although I wasn’t completely healthy, I was young and possessed a certain degree of youthful vigor to get me through my challenges.

But what happens if you’re not young? How does a senior citizen navigate poverty and disability? I was shocked by what I discovered.

People over the age of 60 are the fastest growing demographic of the homeless.

In this recent article by KFF:

For Homeless Seniors, Getting Into Stable Housing Takes a Village — And a Lot of Luck - KFF Health News

Stop and think about that. These are people who have worked their entire lives, done what they are supposed to do, but one bad accident, illness, or other circumstances suddenly throws them out on the streets.

Takeaway quotes from the article

“The number of homeless people aged 65 and up in the U.S. will triple between 2019 and 2030.”

“By 2022, there were about 250,000 people over 55 who were unhoused. About half of this population are homeless for the first time.”

Keep in mind my previous post about potential cuts to Medicaid funding and what that will do to programs designed to help prevent homelessness among the disabled population. If those cuts go through, the quote below will be read in the past tense, and those who are currently receiving assistance will end up on the street.

“Montana recently got approval from federal health officials to use Medicaid funding to temporarily help people with medical conditions make rent.”

The solution proposed below would benefit not only seniors, but anyone living with a disability who struggles with accessibility.

“The real solution is building more affordable housing so older Americans don’t become homeless in the first place. That housing will need to be accessible, too. Older homeless people like Hilton need homes they can safely navigate. Because of his new wheelchair, he needed a ground-floor apartment.”

The article I linked above focuses on one person, Mr. Hilton, to give a face to the problem. Mr. Hilton is a double amputee and relies on a wheelchair to get around. Without the aid of this program, he would end up back on the streets – in a wheelchair.

Photo by Igor Rodrigues on Unsplash

Living on the streets without legs

Here in Detroit, there were two homeless people who were fairly well known to those who attended sporting events downtown. One was “eat ‘em up Tigers” guy. He chanted that catchy phrase when he panhandled near the baseball stadium and appeared to be doing pretty brisk business. His companion was a gentleman in a wheelchair, known as “Dreadlock Mike,” who usually sat alongside him during these events.

In 2013, they were both struck and killed by a hit and run driver. As far as I know that driver was never found or brought to justice. Two older homeless men, one in a wheelchair, left for dead on a dark city street and very little was done about it. You can read the full story as reported in the Detroit local news at the link below.

Eat 'Em Up Tigers Guy, Dreadlock Mike Confirmed Dead - CBS Detroit

Homeless Shelters, Dog Shelters, Are Senior Shelters Next?

It seems like society has a low opinion of both the homeless and the elderly. Put them in shelters, put them in nursing homes. When the two conditions intersect, the solution seems to be to leave them on the streets to be run down like a dog in the road. But at least a dog has a chance of being rescued.

There is a lot of buzz around intersectional feminism, which I think is absolutely necessary, but what about intersectional poverty? What if you’re poor and disabled? Poor and elderly? Poor and a single mother? Poor and a minority? What if multiples of those elements overlap?

According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the cost of ending homelessness in the United States is estimated at $20 billion. In 2023, the United States spent approximately $820 billion on the military budget.

The United States could end homelessness with 2.5% of the military budget. That’s what it would take to allow people to live in dignity instead of desperation.

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Homeless Veterans

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the results of the 2023 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count, the annual effort to estimate the number of Americans, including Veterans, without permanent housing.

The data showed that on a single night in January 2023, there were 35,574 Veterans who experienced homelessness in the U.S. This reflects a 7.4% increase in the number of Veterans experiencing homelessness from 2022. Unsheltered Veterans represented nearly 80% of the overall increase.

Veteran Homelessness Fact Sheet - VA Homeless Programs

Veterans who experience sheltered homelessness often live in emergency shelters, transitional housing programs, or other supportive settings. In contrast, Veterans who experience unsheltered homelessness live in places not meant for human habitation, such as cars, parks, sidewalks, abandoned buildings and literally on the street.

These are the men and women who signed a blank check to United States, promising to give their service – up to and including to their death – in the defense of their nation. But when their time in uniform ended, their nation did not defend them.

America's Homeless Veteran Problem Is Getting Worse - Newsweek

Homelessness in the U.S. is up for the seventh year in a row, with a 12 percent (about 70,650 additional homeless people) year-over-year increase from 2022 to 2023, according to federal homelessness data issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs (VA).

On a single night in 2023, roughly 653,100 people were experiencing homelessness in the United States, including four in 10 who were experiencing unsheltered homelessness described as living "in places not meant for human habitation.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

According to this article by KFF - House GOP Eyeing Cuts of Nearly One-Third in Projected Medicaid Spending | KFF

“House Republicans are considering deficit reductions of $5.5 trillion, which includes $2.3 trillion cuts in Medicaid, $2.7 trillion cuts in other spending, and $0.5 trillion in new tax revenues. Reductions could help offset the costs of extending expiring tax cuts. The document includes several Medicaid policy changes that could reach the $2.3 trillion total with the vast majority of savings (86%) coming from imposing a per capita cap, reducing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) expansion match rate, and lowering the match rate (FMAP) floor from the current 50% level. Policies to limit the use of provider taxes, impose work requirements, change the match rate for DC, and repeal the incentive for states to newly adopt the Medicaid expansion that was passed in the American Rescue Plan Act account for the remaining savings. These policy changes would fundamentally change how Medicaid financing works. Cuts of this magnitude would put states at financial risk, forcing them to raise new revenues or reduce Medicaid spending by eliminating coverage for some people, covering fewer services, and (or) cutting rates paid to physicians, hospitals, and nursing homes.”

What will happen to the seniors currently in nursing homes if those facilities shut down due to these cuts? Many elderly people whose nursing home care is covered by Medicaid suffer from dementia. Will they be turned out onto the streets with no idea of what is happening?

The recent attempt at freezing federal funding put the nationwide Medicaid program in jeopardy, along with several other programs designed to help the most vulnerable Americans. It is quite likely that there will be future attacks on this funding, potentially increasing the number of people with disabilities among the homeless.

What can you do about this? How can you protect yourself, your family, and the less fortunate? Contact your congressperson. Voice your opposition to any possible cuts in Medicaid or Medicare. Find your congressional representative at this link: Find Your Representative | house.gov

Take five minutes to call or email your congressional representative. Let them know that you are opposed to any cuts to Medicaid or Medicare. Tell them that this homelessness epidemic is unacceptable, and the American public demands that veterans, the elderly, people with disabilities deserve to be treated with dignity.

Every one of us will become senior citizens one day if we are lucky enough to live that long. When you use your voice to assist those in need now, you are helping your future self.

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