Homelessness on the uprise among seniors

[maryf]

Thanks to a dear friend for the following info, chilling information that we should be ashamed of.
my friends' words:
"According to Paul Downey, president-elect of the National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs,the Census Bureau's poverty threshold is not even half of what a senior needs to make it.
The statistics used by the federal government to determine these amounts are based on 1955 consumption patterns. At that time, food was approximately 1/3 of an average family budget.
This does not take into account the skyrocketing cost of housing or medical costs, which have far surpassed the 1955 levels
Currently under these old standards about 9.7 percent of elders live in poverty. In actuality the figure is over 18 percent, or over 7 million people."

See:
Living on the Edge
By Barry Yeoman, March & April 2010
http://www.aarpmagazine.org/money/living-on-the-edge.ht...


"Homeless elders, although increasing in numbers, continue to be a forgotten population."
"Elderly people who are homeless are more likely to experience multiple medical problems and chronic illnesses that may have gone untreated for years."
"Due to the transitory nature of an emergency shelter, which often provides only a bed for the night, it is usually not an appropriate placement for an elderly homeless person."
"One of the dilemmas faced by homeless persons who are elderly is the long waiting list for affordable senior housing. In most urban areas, the waiting list for subsidized housing can be as long as 3 to 5 years."


Also from the U.S. Department Of Health And Human Services
http://bphc.hrsa.gov/policy/pal0303.htm

A study of selected urban areas in the USA, Australia, and England published in 2004 revealed that the City of Boston experienced a 39% increase of older homeless people since 1993 (Crane, 2004).


and from the National Coalition For The Homeless

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/elderly.html


The National Alliance to End Homelessness recently released a report predicting that homelessness among the elderly will increase substantially over the next decade.

It predicts that if numbers of elderly persons living in deep poverty holds up in addition to the aging trend, elderly homelessness will increase by 33 percent - from 44,172 to 58,772 - between 2010 and 2020.

By 2050, it predicts that more than 95,000 Americans aged 60 and older will be homeless.

[lonestarnot]

1. then dead.

[maryf]

6. yep

and it is a slow and painful death; we have to stop this callousness!!

[bobbolink]

9. Does it matter?

[maryf]

13. to some of us...

not enough though it would seem...:grr:

for you: :hug:

[xchrom]

2. you gotta wonder what will happen to that # with persistent unemployment in the 50+ group? nt

[maryf]

4. only going to rise...

but we're in a recovery, dontcha know??? :grr:

[Catherina]

3. Rec'd. But there's hope. They can eat the bombs we're manufacturing.

Sad sarcasm.

I'm so profoundly ashamed of this country.

[maryf]

5. It is so shameful

how little regard the elderly are shown in this country, in other countries they are revered...beyond sad...and everyday we are all getting old...

[blindpig]

7. And what will it be like after they get through with Social Security?

Doesn't take much imagination.....

[maryf]

8. Sometimes I wonder...

If it isn't imagination that is lacking? That and/or hearts. Who can imagine old folks huddled on the streets and not be screaming for justice when they realize their imagination is a reflection of reality?

[Starry Messenger]

10. It's scary watching how fast the vulnerable are being shoved off the sinking ship.

No one in charge seems to be pretending even for the sake of decency.

[maryf]

11. move along folks...

nothing to care about here... old and in the way... :(

[Safetykitten]

12. Hello, the requisite HCR happiness post required in this thread.

It's a great start. Just hang in there till 2012.

There...

[maryf]

14. I'm not sure I get this?

I think you're being sarcastic? Health care Reform? I'm dense...

[TBF]

21. I don't get it either - but it comes from the unrec patrol so I wouldn't worry about it. nt

[maryf]

25. Thanks, I was discombobulated!!

the person doesn't want to think about reality it would seem. Solidarity reality sister! :hi:

[TBF]

28. Solidarity.

:hug:

[maryf]

32. thanks!

I needed that today! :hug:

[Dappleganger]

35. You've got to be kidding.

[shireen]

15. are there any organizations that specifically deal with elderly homelessness?

I'd like to help them.

[maryf]

17. I can't find one on searching...

Senior Action might be a group that could work on this?

[Cleita]

16. I'm sure that the lack of COLA (cost of living allowance) for two years on

Social Security is contributing to this. How they figure this is beyond me because my rent has gone up $100 in the past two years. Gas, food, insurance and utilities have all gone up. Of course, this is my personal experience but I'm sure most seniors are feeling the pinch and those who can no longer pay the hikes in rent and utilities will end up being homeless.

[maryf]

18. no doubt

:(

[Lugnut]

44. Absolutely.

The lack of COLA has been devastating for too many seniors. Pinching pennies helps to a point but when there's nowhere else to pinch, then what?

[Liberal_in_LA]

19. kick

[maryf]

20. thanks!

kicking myself to say so! :) And for the evening crew...

[TBF]

22. k&r nt

[TheKentuckian]

23. We are deep into the toilet and swirling down. No excuse save wickedness.

[maryf]

24. And the wickedness extends to those who don't want to know

and refuse to do anything...at least spread the word, somebody might actually start doing something about this symptom of a very sick system.

[TheKentuckian]

34. True but it is a structural problem. Homelessness is systemically required to create the "bottom" in

housing market. Demand is largely artificial it is created on the backs of the vulnerable and struggling.

The elder have traditionally (at least in our frame of reference) been kept off the streets by ownership and a safety net but now the pigs are more greedy and even over years those on the bottom are squeezed even tighter.
Now we have folks with nothing and an income that 100% of won't support a one bedroom.

Ending homelessness isn't a line edit and it is so pervasive that our society wide defense is seriously because they are mentally ill, in all effect.

When you stop and think about it, that is some fucked up business.

When you plug that (largely false) logic into reality you are willfully but grossly negligent by endangering society at large as well as the sick person and being about as amoral as one can imagine and your much different than a lizard eating its weak and young.

Think about what going there society wide as we have says. That is a hell of a commitment to my mind. It is big, real big. You end homelessness and a bunch of phony money winks out of existence.

I'm all about it but it is a battle fought on the terrain that is fundamental to the system we know. I think it is important to face the why's to overcome problems. We can't make headway misunderstanding why things are the way they are and are just accidents of fate.

Fail to follow the money and you can't see the the walls put up and hear the media damping effect.

We go against a stiff wind with a strong and stearn will.

[maryf]

37. How much money

sank out of existence with the housing bubble burst? Trillions in hedge funds of chimeric money. Eventually those following the money will be like lemmings...

People not profits, tough row to hoe for sure, but the system won't be able to sustain itself much longer...full steam ahead...

[Bennyboy]

26. My Mom would be homeless

if not for my realtives paying for her loding etc.


I am 55 and I am homeless.

[maryf]

29. I am so sorry...

Its not right for anyone to not have a home. All human needs should be taken care of. All of them.

[Bennyboy]

36. Well as they cut more and more social services...

People like me are ass out. I cared for my Mom throuhg IHSS and MediCal, but she fell in october in South Carolina and was taken off the program. And now she cannot get back on the program. So that leaves me out in the cold with no income at all. I have 50 cents and a sleeping back and thankfully a library card.

[maryf]

38. Public Libraries

one of the strongholds of public institutions...public health care, welfare, housing, education are all being taken away...glad you have this place to write, ...you're in my thoughts...peace.

[Bennyboy]

47. thanks...Libraries are great...

But I wonder, as more and more people are on the street, why they don't use the libraries to house people? At the one I am at now they have two community rooms that are seldom used and copuld put up the people like myself that are sleeping in the parks etc without much effect. They are locked off from the main library, have access to bathrooms without actually entering the library, and are warm and dry...

[maryf]

49. Wow, that is a great idea!

I wonder how this initiative could get started? I'll be thinking, hope others do too!

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[maryf]

30. Few of the elderly I know

would vote this way, the gray haired make up many of those who are fighting for justice...

[Forkboy]

31. All the old people I know voted Dem.

Your empathy for them is noted.

Get a dictionary, look up the word "compassion", and then come back and post again, because this post here says way more about you than the group you feel less and less charitable towards.

[maryf]

40. +1

thanks.

[Name removed]

43. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Starry Messenger]

33. night kick.

[maryf]

39. hope all the homeless

can sleep somehow...g'night.

[leftstreet]

41. K&R

[Name removed]

42. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[maryf]

45. g'morning

just a reminder that many here have heard before: the number one cause of homelessness, regardless the age, is lack of available, affordable, housing (this is a country with many empty buildings), rents are often too high for many to afford. The cost of health care is another aspect that needs to be considered as it is the number one reason for bankruptcy, which often leads to homelessness. People's needs must be given top priority, and everyone should remember the adage, "but for grace, so go I...". It's a sick system that is creating this very sick society...

[TBF]

46. The rent is too damn high. nt

[butterfly77]

48. +Millions

:kick: