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People put tents on sidewalks and I always think "why don't they camp in the woods?"
I don't think camping qualifies as homeless in the way "we" have come to view the term homeless.
If you are in a cheap tent or a blue tarp lean-to in the woods off a logging road or forest service road in the winter, in the PNW, in the rain, and you are old, are you there by choice?? Are you a backpacker or a “nomad”?? Put some thought into this.
I don't personally know any homeless senior citizens (or homeless younger adults either), but if I go to certain parts of town, it's not difficult to find some who APPEAR to be senior citizens and perhaps homeless. Some might call them "bums" or "vagrants".
Here is what puzzles me about this. It is my understanding that in the US, if your income is below a certain level, then you qualify for all kinds of freebies from the state. For example free medical, food stamps, housing allowance, and other such things.
Perhaps you can tell me if this is true or not. If it is true, then why would ANYONE have an excuse for being homeless, hungry, and dirty? Perhaps a person wouldn't live like royalty, but if they are flat out BROKE and have no means of providing for themselves, then it's my understanding that the government (state) will provide them the basics. True or not?
True. I would also add unemployment benefits to your list of social assistance available in the US. One thing that the US no longer has is an adequate number of mental hospitals, or basically any way to hospitalize mental patients against their will.
Long-term homelessness in the US results almost entirely from mental illness and addiction. There is short-term homelessness among low-income people that results from some emergency, but if they don't have mental problems, they generally find a solution fairly rapidly (eg, a new job if they lost the old one, roommates to share the rent, moving to a cheap area).
Homeless people generally look older than they are, so it is hard to tell how many of them are seniors. There is a general increase in the number of seniors in the US, ie, the nation is aging, meaning that there is an increase in every type of senior, so I assume that would include homeless seniors as well. If someone was a mentally ill vagrant at the age of 25 and 45, he or she will likely continue to be the same after 65.
If you are in a cheap tent or a blue tarp lean-to in the woods off a logging road or forest service road in the winter, in the PNW, in the rain, and you are old, are you there by choice?? Are you a backpacker or a “nomad”?? Put some thought into this.
For the longest time, there was a homeless guy living in the woods in an area visible from the road but at a bit of a distance from the road. He was there for years. He had a dog and had made himself a ramshackle, tent/fort looking thing. Every now and then, he'd come up to the roadway to ask motorists for money to feed his dog. I would imagine that the surrounding woods were his bathroom and if he showered at all it was during the pouring rain. He was such a constant fixture that the people who were used to him being there stopped seeing him.
Then one day for whatever reason the county decided it was time for him to move on. They went in and removed his tent/fort and the junk strewn all around it. I assume they took him to a shelter of some sort and possibly his dog to an animal shelter. Just like that his life was blown up unceremoniously and w/o any apparent warning or reason. Something must have happened. Maybe he had a medical emergency of some sort and the hospital couldn't send him back to such a "home". I really don't know.
I think this is the article to which the OP referred.
Why More Baby Boomers Are Sliding Into Homelessness
The aging of America means more old people on fixed incomes are overwhelmed by the high cost of housing and other financial shocks; ‘not seen since the Great Depression’
A lot of areas simply lack housing, even if you do qualify for subsidized housing. Some people have to wait years into housing, even if they qualify. And a lot of people don't want to apply for foodstamps etc. because of "pride".
There certainly is a lot of geographic imbalance between where 70-somethings and 80-somethings live when they suddenly become homeless, and location of available low-cost or low-income housing.
Long-term homelessness in the US results almost entirely from mental illness and addiction. There is short-term homelessness among low-income people that results from some emergency, but if they don't have mental problems, they generally find a solution fairly rapidly (eg, a new job if they lost the old one, roommates to share the rent, moving to a cheap area).
The article I read was focusing on a relatively (within the past year) surge in brand-new homelessness among seniors who had never been homeless before. The anecdotes cited usually listed a precipitating event such as natural disaster destroying housing, death of a spouse, significant medical event, or dramatic increase in rent. The increases in rent frequently seemed to be a result of change in ownership of the dwelling (apartment complex or individual condominium) together with remodel/renewal and relisting of the unit at a significantly higher rate.
The article seemed to indicate that seniors expected their homelessness to be short term until they could find a unit, or scrape together the finances to rent another unit - but sometimes other events prevented them from amassing the necessary funds for rent.
I read an article asserting there has been an increase in homelessness among Boomers, fueled by the usual suspects of increasing rent, unexpected major expenses such as auto breakdowns, medical bills, dental bills, and other significant events.
A University of Pennsylvania academic researcher with expertise in the subject says the nation hasn't seen a surge in homelessness among seniors/elderly like this since The Great Depression. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development says older adults are the fastest-growing segment of homeless.
Of course, all such things tend to be local. Have you seen an increase in homelessness among seniors in your neck of the woods?
The article I read is behind a paywall. You'll need a subscription to the WSJ to read it. Its title is "Why More Baby Boomers Are Sliding Into Homelessness". The article may find its way into a non-paywalled online publication in a day or two.
I wonder if they are classifying those who decide to sell their home and go full time RV'ing homeless? Technically I guess they are as they don't have a permanent home address either owning or renting but in reality they aren't. I would love to see the actual data of this so called surge.
i'm in my late 70s, and being homeless would be a death sentence for me. Can't imagine that I would last more than a week or two. Plus, I flunked "Boy Scouts" and never liked the idea of camping out. I doubt if I'm a risk for being homeless, but stranger things have happened, and I've learned to "never say never".
The only good news is that I have several relatives that would take me in under dire circumstances, as I would do the same for them if the situations were reversed.
The article I read was focusing on a relatively (within the past year) surge in brand-new homelessness among seniors who had never been homeless before. The anecdotes cited usually listed a precipitating event such as natural disaster destroying housing, death of a spouse, significant medical event, or dramatic increase in rent. The increases in rent frequently seemed to be a result of change in ownership of the dwelling (apartment complex or individual condominium) together with remodel/renewal and relisting of the unit at a significantly higher rate.
The article seemed to indicate that seniors expected their homelessness to be short term until they could find a unit, or scrape together the finances to rent another unit - but sometimes other events prevented them from amassing the necessary funds for rent.
The one lady in the article is 63 and she and her 55 year old boyfriend are both homeless. When they went to a shelter the only bunks available were top bunks and people over 60 are not allowed up on those top bunks. So, the woman and her boyfriend had to leave the shelter and wound up sleeping on a sidewalk and sharing one blanket between them.
I'd love to hear the shelter's version of events because that doesn't sound right at all.
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