Why A Record Number Of Senior Citizens Are On The Verge Of Becoming Homeless
Senior citizens who rely on social security to meet their monthly expenditures are increasingly coming up short, this is creating a crisis that is leaving many seniors homeless or on the verge on becoming so.
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Senior citizens have become a sad casualty of the current economic state as housing costs have spiked across the nation. According to a recent article on NPR, more Americans over the age of 60 are at risk of losing their homes because their fixed incomes cannot stretch to cover the rising cost of rent. Homeless senior citizens are showing up at shelters at ever-increasing rates, prompting housing and senior services groups to seek new solutions for this escalating problem.
Kim Hilton and Lisa Beaty, a couple profiled in the NPR piece, were forced out of their three-bedroom, two-bathroom Montana rental home after an investor purchased the property. The investor raised the rent from $1,000 per month (including utilities) to $1,800 per month (utilities excluded). Because the couple’s combined income from disability benefits only amounts to $1,500, they had no choice but to leave.
Losing their home also meant breaking up their relationship, partly due to stress and partly because 64-year-old Beaty had to move into her daughter’s one-bedroom apartment. Hilton, who is 68 years old, decided to temporarily live in his truck with his dog, Amora, until a spot at an assisted living facility opens for him. Because he lives in a rural area of Montana, the wait for an assisted living bed could take days or months.
Montana has experienced one of the largest U.S. spikes in rental costs, jumping 37% since 2019. The national average increase on rent was 11% in 2021. Meanwhile, the poverty rate for Americans aged 65 and older rose from 8.9% in 2020 to 10.3% in 2021, according to Ramsey Alwin, president and CEO of the National Council on Aging.
Alwin says those who rely on disability or Social Security income are struggling to afford the basic necessities of life. “You’ll find that individuals are often coming up short by about $1,000 a month in order to meet their true needs,” she says. This leaves many not-yet homeless senior citizens shuffling limited funds, trying to figure out whether food, medication, utilities or rent is the priority on any given day.
Pensioners are hopeful that next year’s 8.7% Social Security benefit increase will help housed and homeless senior citizens make ends meet. But with rent costs many times higher than that increase, it’s doubtful that it will make a big enough difference for seniors already displaced or facing eviction. Without family or friends to move in with, housing options are few for seniors forced to move on.
According to Steve Berg, vice president for programs and policy at the National Alliance to End Homelessness, senior citizens have been showing up in droves at emergency shelters after their rental homes were sold. Although shelters accept homeless senior citizens, this physically vulnerable population often has trouble navigating their temporary accommodations. For example, hallways may be too narrow for wheelchairs to pass, or dorms might have bunk beds that are impossible for some disabled elders to access.
Hearth is a non-profit organization that works to eliminate the problem of homeless senior citizens. The organization’s CEO, Mark Hinderlie, says that the best bet for seniors is to maintain their current housing in any way possible. Governments across the nation are also working on creating more apartment buildings and other affordable housing solutions to keep senior citizens in the homes they need.
