Baby Boomers think that we are the best generation to come along in this great country of ours. We have been running the government for the last 6 years and look at the chaos we have created. Our children are dying in record numbers from this opioid overdose epidemic and what have we done to fix this issue? And our fellow Baby Boomers are homeless in record numbers…
The Supplemental Poverty Measure (PLM) used by the Census Bureau put 12.8% of seniors 65+ below the poverty level. Considering that in 1966 seniors in poverty were at 28.5%, Social Security has really worked to reduce the shame America had back then for our seniors. But looking at how this current 12.8% is put together- the poverty rate among Black seniors is 18%, among Hispanic seniors is 17.1% and among white seniors, it is 6.8%.
According to the Los Angeles Continuum of Care (CoC), the Life expectancy of people experiencing homelessness is 64 years old compared to 77 years old for the average person in the USA. 39% of older adults experiencing homelessness are Black/African American while 25% are Hispanic/Latinx and 30% are white. 80% are male and 20% are female.
The CoC says older adults fall into homelessness because:
- 1 in 10 have physical disabilities versus 2 in 10 of all persons experiencing homelessness.
- 7 in 10 have chronic illnesses versus 1.7 in 10 of all homeless.
- 1 in 2 homeless people cite economic hardship caused by eviction, foreclosure, and unemployment.
- 1 in 5 cite disabling health conditions such as physical illness, mental health issues and drug use.
- 3 in 10 cite weak social networks such as separations, conflicts with household members, and no friends or family available.
According to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, the number of people age 60 and over living in emergency shelters or transitional housing rose 69% over the last decade to 76,000 people. The incidence of homelessness among older veterans has also risen to 19.2% of older veterans, up from 8.7% in 2009.
With 71 million of us hanging around and another 10,000 joining us each day, how can we as a generation ease the pain for our fellow Baby Boomers who are suffering? Keeping in mind that American homelessness is not just a moral disgrace, but also an expensive one to fix; homelessness is basically a housing problem, and to get people into housing it takes big dollars. The American Rescue Plan passed in March of 2021, begins to solve our problem. In addition to $21.6B for low-income renters, it has $5B in HOME grants, which cities and counties can use to invest in permanent supportive housing to prevent homelessness. The entire annual outlay for federal Section 8 housing vouchers, as a comparison, is $22B. Knowing that if we funnel the right dollars into solving homelessness, having fewer people on the streets saves time and money for doctors and nurses providing health care, saves on policing and firefighting expenses, and saves the time and expense of our entire criminal justice system.
Our government cannot solve this issue that should haunt all of us, alone. It takes a web of city agencies, nonprofits, and religious institutions to concentrate on treating and helping the baby boomers who are in trouble.
Now that many of us are retired or have more free time with no kids running around, we must be the volunteers who help nonprofits and religious organizations implement long-term solutions, so our children do not have to deal with this in the future. We all want to leave a baby boomer legacy that this society is better today because the boomers got involved.
