Seniors Face Growing Homelessness Crisis
More than 42,000 people in the United States over the age of 65 were homeless last year, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Emerging Crisis of Aged Homelessness report. Rising rents, limited fixed incomes, and failing health are pushing thousands of older Americans onto the streets or into temporary shelters.
For many, homelessness comes not in early adulthood, but after a lifetime of work.
Social Security Falls Short for Many
For Lori Cowling, homelessness came at age 80. Her monthly Social Security check—just over $1,000—wasn’t enough to cover even a modest studio apartment in Phoenix. Like Wedge, she has had to navigate the harsh realities of finding stability in her later years.
Vernon Wedge: From Steady Job to the Streets
For nearly two decades, Vernon Wedge worked as a security camera operator at a Dillard’s department store in Arizona. But when his eyesight began to fail, he lost both his job and his savings. At 69 years old, he became homeless for the first time.
“Money ran out, we got a shopping cart and filled it with personal belongings, mostly clothes, and hit the streets,” Wedge told NBC News. He spent his 70th birthday homeless alongside his adult son, who struggles with substance abuse, and their dog Roscoe.
Wedge eventually found temporary shelter at St. Vincent de Paul, a seniors-only facility in Phoenix, but residents can only stay for up to two years. “The one thing that I don’t want to be remembered when people hear about my death is that I died in a homeless shelter,” he said.
The “Gray Wave” Ahead
Advocates warn that the nation is only beginning to see the rise of what some call the “gray wave” of homelessness. As the population ages, experts say without expanded affordable housing programs and stronger support for seniors living on fixed incomes, thousands more could face the same fate as Wedge and Cowling.
