Homelessness for senior citizens a growing problem

This country has a problem with senior homelessness that’s getting worse, not better.

More than 2.35 million older adult households in the United States are paying more than half of their limited income on rent, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. And on any given night, almost 140,000 Americans aged 55 and over experience homelessness.

Today, adults 50 and older account for more than half the country’s homeless population. Their numbers are expected to triple by 2030.

The news isn’t any better in Massachusetts., where the federal department of Health and Human Services count a 17% jump in the number of homeless Bay State adults age 55 and older. That’s almost three times the national increase of 6%.

“The fastest-growing group (of homeless in Massachusetts) is people living over the age of 60,” state Sen. Pat Hehlen, D-Somerville, told a packed Great Hall at the Statehouse earlier this month during the annual Older Adult Lobby Day.

How did we get here? Older adults, of course, are more likely to be living on a fixed income, making it more difficult to cover expenses. That’s especially true when the cost of necessities such as food, heat and medications are rising far faster than Social Security cost-of-living increases. Some seniors have lost spouses, and therefore half their income.

That’s not counting the cost of housing. It’s no secret that Massachusetts faces a severe housing shortage, with home prices up 73% since 2020. By contrast, household income has risen a mere 4%, when adjusted for inflation.

There simply aren’t enough affordable homes to go around. According to the state’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, Massachusetts needs to add 222,000 new housing units by 2035 to keep pace with demand.

In the meantime, older residents are forced to wait, sometimes living from their cars.

“Older adults have turned to long-term subsidized housing for relief through programs such as statefunded public housing, the Massachusetts rental voucher program and the housing choice voucher program,” Julia Garvey of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless told lawmakers earlier this month. “But waitlists can be years or even a decade long. We do not have time to wait and must implement a solution that will help older adults who often have complex health needs and are moments away from living in a shelter, in a car, or on the streets, to remain stably housed.”

In Somerville, Jehlen noted, 200 people remain on a list for senior housing. Last year, only four people were admitted.

One way to help older residents avoid homelessness is to help them remain in their current homes while they are searching for more affordable options.

Jehlen and other legislative leaders on Beacon Hill are pushing to expand a modest pilot program that showed promise in Somerville.

The $130,000 program was simple and straightforward, providing rental assistance to older residents in need. With that money, the Community Action Agency of Somerville was able to provide rental assistance for nine households “that likely otherwise would have been evicted to the street” while waiting for an affordable housing spot to become available,” Ashley Tienken, the agency’s director of housing advocacy, told a legislative panel last week.

Jehlen is among lawmakers looking to make the program statewide next year, backed by $7.5 million in funding.

Under the plan, home-insecure adults 60 and over would not pay more than 30% of their income toward housing costs, with the state subsidy making up the difference. Residents would qualify if they had incomes below 80% of the area median income and are at risk of eviction.

Even in a tough budget year, it’s worth the investment — $7.5 million is a relatively small amount, and the program has the potential to save the state money.

“The cost of keeping people in their homes is so much less than hospitalizations when someone has no place to discharge to, or paying for shelters,” said Ellen Schacter, director of Somerville’s Office of Housing Stability. “So this is cost effective, it’s humane.”