In Nashville, nearly 30 percent of the homeless population, based on a one-night count, are considered older adults. Nationwide senior homelessness is on the rise. And the United States seems ill-equipped to deal with the special needs of aging adults experiencing homelessness.
The National Alliance to End Homelessness reported in December 2023 that, “homelessness among older adults is expected to nearly triple in 2030.”
That statement is based on a prediction by researchers examining trends in Boston, New York City and Los Angeles County. Their base numbers were from 2017. In real terms, the number of adults experiencing homelessness who are aged 65 and older is anticipated to grow from an estimated 40,000 to 106,000.
Jeff Olivet, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) was quoted in a 2022 AARP article as saying that elder homelessness “is increasing dramatically right now.” Olivet added that, “seniors over the age of 55 are likely the fastest-growing group of people experiencing homelessness … and for many of them it is first-time homelessness.”
The federal government released the 2023 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) on Dec. 15, and for the first time required local jurisdictions to include age demographics. The AHAR is based on the annual Point In Time (PIT) count, which takes place at the end of January each year. This year’s AHAR showed a total of 653,100 people experiencing homelessness on a single night in 2023, which signifies a 12 percent increase over 2022 numbers and the highest count since reporting started in 2007. We already reported about Nashville’s PIT Count 2023 in our May 24, 2023, issue.
The Nashville numbers for aging adults as reported in the 2023 PIT Count — collected on Jan. 26, 2023, across Nashville — reflect a one-night snapshot of our local population. The demographic I focused on includes persons aged 55 to 64, and persons over age 64. I reviewed two documents. One a detailed Excel spreadsheet that lists the PIT count numbers for each jurisdiction including Nashville-Davidson County, and secondly, a filtered summary report for Nashville-Davidson County, which is available online at https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/coc/coc-homeless-populations-and-subpopulations-reports/.
The 2023 PIT Count for Nashville-Davidson County showed an overall homelessness number for Nashville of 2,129, which was an 11 percent increase over the 2022 count. When we look at the numbers of older Nashvillians experiencing homelessness, it breaks down the following way. Of the overall population of people who lived:
- Unsheltered: 14.2 percent were aged 55-64 and 4.2 percent were 65 or older;
- In Emergency Shelters: 24.5 percent were aged 55-64 and 8.3 percent were 65 or older;
- In Transitional Housing: 26.1 percent were aged 55-64 and 8.6 percent were 65 or older.
In essence, of Nashville’s homeless population living outdoors (unsheltered), 18.5 percent were aged 55+, and 33.2 percent of individuals staying in sheltered situations (including emergency shelters and transitional housing) were aged 55+. That means 29 percent of Nashville’s homeless population is 55 or older.
As this was the first time reporting on age was required, we won’t be able to compare the 2023 data to previous years. Furthermore, chronic homelessness was not broken down by age groups. Neither was race or ethnicity.
When we speak about older adults, we usually don’t think of individuals in their 50s as members of this population. However, when it comes to homelessness, research has shown that people in this age group are more likely to experience memory loss, falls and other functional impairments at comparable rates to people in their 70s who comprise the general or housed population.
I believe we are not prepared to address senior homelessness sufficiently. What worries me the most is when I learn that an unprecedented amount of people over 55 are falling into homelessness for the first time, which is mentioned in reports like “Addressing Homelessness Among Older Adults” released by the federal government in October 2023.
Even local reports such as the Metro Social Services 2022 Community Needs Evaluation draw a dire picture. While the report focused on overall aging and does not include homelessness specifically, it states that “the dramatic rise in costs of rent, groceries, and medical care in Nashville disproportionately impacts the city’s older population.” Based on this local report, more than half of Nashville’s population over the age of 65 (or one in two seniors) meets what is termed Livable Income Poverty. Livable income is related to livable wage but considers that seniors are living on a fixed income. Due to the significant increases in housing, food and health care costs. The lack of a livable income disproportionately impacts older populations.
Aging adults, especially when they fall into homelessness for the first time, have special needs. For one, having never required assistance, they often do not know where to turn for help or do not have the technological knowledge to fill out online applications. Therefore, solutions should take into consideration the specialized needs of the growing senior population in terms of outreach, support services, access to transitional and permanent housing, physical and mental health needs.
One of the most urgent policy needs is to identify people who are aging and lacking the resources to remain in independent housing early and intervene. In other words, Nashville must develop a homelessness prevention plan that includes targeted strategies for different populations including the needs of aging adults. To do so, it will be necessary to build stronger cross-sector relationships at the local, state and national levels as the homelessness sector alone is ill-equipped to address a comprehensive prevention plan.
The Contributor invites you to learn more about aging adults who struggle with homelessness in Nashville at a screening event of a new documentary called Aging Matters – Unhoused, which features examples of a couple and two individuals who struggle with homelessness and access to housing in our city. The documentary premiers on your local Nashville Public Television station on Jan. 9 at 8 pm.
The Contributor and NPT will also host a panel discussion and film screening of Unhoused on Feb. 1.