The share of Americans above age 65 is projected to grow in coming years, outpacing overall population growth by almost 20 percentage points by 2030. Some predict that a crisis in senior homelessness looms.
Senior homelessness has, traditionally, not been much of a concern for government because homeless people tend not to live very long. Life expectancy in the U.S. as a whole is 76 years old. Studies of homeless mortality often find an average age in the early fifties. With respect to the hardcore street population, the standard rule of thumb is to add two decades. Many unsheltered homeless people in their forties are functionally “seniors.”
But our government could have more homeless senior citizens (understood more conventionally) on its hands if there are more seniors around, especially seniors with qualities that place them at risk for becoming homeless.
Various “risk factors” exist for homelessness. One is social isolation. It has been wisely remarked that “People don’t become homeless when they run out of money, at least not right away. They become homeless when they run out of relationships.” Family relationships form the first line of defense against economic hardship. But family relationships can be strained by drug addiction or mental illness, or they can simply fail to develop in the first place.
Continue reading the entire piece here at the Institute for Family Studies
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Stephen Eide is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
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