In June, Invisible People interviewed Kim, a homeless senior woman in Grants Pass. She and her cat Sylvester had to pack up their tent every Saturday due to local enforcement rules, moving from park to park. Since the Grants Pass ruling, Kim and many others must do this to avoid fines or worse, an arrest. Kim became homeless after falling behind on property taxes that she could no longer afford on a fixed income, a microcosm of the broader nationwide crisis of senior homelessness. She lived outside through the winter, spending most of it sick, contracting bronchitis twice. She struggled just to find water, food, or toilet paper.

“I’m not here by choice,” she said, regarding her personal situation and the systemic crisis of senior homelessness. “Life shouldn’t be like this.”

Senior Homelessness Expected to Triple by 2030

Senior homelessness is a rapidly growing crisis. Without significant intervention, experts warn that the number of unhoused adults over 65 is projected to triple by 2030.

According to the Aging Homeless Study, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the New York University School of Medicine found that the number of homeless adults age 65 and older increased by more than 300% between 2004 and 2017. During the same period, the number of people aged 55 and older staying in shelters rose by approximately 250%.

According to the 2024 Point-in-Time Count, more than 146,000 people age 55 and older experienced homelessness in the United States. Nearly half of that population was unsheltered, living outside rather than in a shelter. Within that group, more than 42,000 people age 65 and older were counted as homeless, representing an increase of more than 6 percent in just one year.

Seniors now make up a rapidly growing share of the overall homeless population, not because they are aging into stability, but because they are aging into housing insecurity.

As housing costs rise and fixed incomes fall further behind the cost of living, older adults are increasingly pushed into homelessness — often for the first time late in life. Advocates and researchers warn that these numbers likely understate the true scale of senior homelessness, particularly among those living unsheltered or cycling in and out of temporary situations.

Read the full article about senior homelessness by Jocelyn Figueroa at Invisible People.