Oregon Seniors Struggle Under the Threat of Homelessness

Editor’s note: This story discusses self-harm.

In her late 50s, Laurie depended on $100 a month in food stamps while she lived in her car. She ate cold canned soup and food she could eat without cooking. She took showers when she could at her ex-brother-in-law’s house, where she parked her car. She found temporary jobs, like packing flower bulbs into net bags at a bulb factory. It was never enough money for rent.

At one point, Laurie developed pancreatitis, which sent her to the hospital. She suffered a stroke, and doctors determined she had experienced several small strokes. This impacted her memory. In her phone contacts, she keeps “son” and “sister” typed under these people’s names and photos to stir her memory if they call.

“Sometimes I slept on the side of the road in my car,” Laurie said. “I covered the windows so no one could look in and see what I had. I didn’t sleep good. Every little noise, I’d jump.”

Accessing resources for housing, work and health care is challenging for adults experiencing poverty and homelessness in their 50s and on. For many, there is a treacherous middle ground without shelter or income. This means service providers are helping them find housing along with health care, food, transportation and safety.

Laurie was homeless for three years after losing her husband to cancer and, consequently, her home. She lived in a series of cars, couch surfed and spent a few nights in women’s shelters and hotels. With the Street Roots Rose City Resource Guide, she found her way to local nonprofits PDX Saints Love and Rose Haven Day Shelter and Community Center for women and gender-diverse people. Another program, Up & Out, helped Laurie with housing.

She qualified for rapid rehousing and, with help from an Up & Out caseworker, moved into a townhouse last month. She recently started collecting widow’s benefits, and in one year, she will reapply for housing benefits.

“I wasn’t expecting to be a widow after 25 years, but it happened,” Laurie said. “And right now, I just thank God every day for what I’ve got. Without the (Rose City Resource Guide), I would’ve died, and I hate to say it, but I would have committed suicide if I had to live on the streets.”

Experts agree adults over 55 years old need housing and specific services, but resources are hard to navigate, underfunded and in short supply.

Katie O’Brien, Rose Haven executive director, told Street Roots she’s seen an increasing number of older women like Laurie line up for services in the past few years.

“We are serving about 150 people daily,” O’Brien said. “In the morning, the line is 50-60 deep, and others continue to trickle in. Now, the line puts women at a medical disadvantage. We have umbrellas and stools we bring out to make people as comfortable as possible.”

Kristi Katzke, case manager at Blanchet House, a nonprofit that temporarily houses 50 men with wraparound services, also sees homelessness among older people on a daily basis.

At age 65, Bob remembers the quick path to homelessness when he lost his job.

“The way I became homeless is I had a stroke … I could no longer type as fast as I had been able to,” Bob, a University of Washington graduate, said. “I could not perform my technical support job I had from home anymore. And my employer decided to let me go. I had a job that was fun for me to do — it was challenging.

“I was able to support my expenditures that I had. I was renting a room.”

Bob remembers living outside for a few days with one word: cold. After staying in a shelter, he found his way to Blanchet House, which also serves daily meals in Old Town.

Survival, shelter and employment

Staff at Blanchet House and Rose Haven said they see many older people face eviction and living in cars or tents. Some stay in temporary shelters, and some couch surf.

They often have physical and cognitive disabilities and may be dealing with addiction. Unfortunately, not all can stay in shelters.

“Many older folks do not meet the Activities of Daily Living (ADL) requirements to successfully manage themselves in a congregate shelter setting,” O’Brien said. “ADLs include bathing or showering, dressing, getting in and out of bed or a chair, walking, using the toilet, and eating. Shelters simply don’t have the capacity to support in this way.”

People with increasing physical problems related to aging are left out in the cold. This makes it even more difficult to access the resources they need in the first place. Many are struggling to survive.

“What if you’re not old enough to collect (Social Security) but no longer physically able to work?” Katzke said. “What if you worked construction and your knees give out? The earliest to collect SSI is 62, but you get much less. Some folks do take it early because they have nothing, but they’ve lost the ability to get the maximum. People are working later and later. But some physically and mentally may not be able to look for a job.”

Dealing with technology for job applications or training is complicated. Finding a bus route and traveling to an interview or a job can be exhausting.

“Folks can’t make ends meet on their Social Security, so they return to employment, but employment has so many barriers, and technology is one of them,” O’Brien said. “In addition to that barrier are physical barriers and dementia.

Services

The need for health services becomes more urgent with housing instability, especially in connection with aging. This includes help with addiction recovery. Navigating technology is another useful service.

Marisa Zapata, director of the Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative at Portland State University, said people are living longer and encountering more disability issues and more complicated issues around living alone.

“When I say ‘disability,’ I’m including mental health,” Zapata said. “People with dementia need to be in assisted living. But it is so expensive. It’s unrealistic that people can get into assisted living at the cost we are looking at. If they don’t have family members, where are they going to go?”

On-site medical care is an essential service for transitional or long-term housing with people who are in their 50s and older. Finding transportation to the emergency room, followed by a long wait, can be risky and difficult.

“We have a small clinic here three days a week, and even though the nurse practitioner is not Bob’s primary full-time care, they do med management,” Katzke said. “It’s been nice to not run to the doctor every time there is a need for urgent care.”

In addition to the clinic, Blanchet House offers a safe and sober recovery opportunity. Duke Reiss, a peer support and housing specialist at Blanchet House, advocates for seniors who are struggling with addiction. Addiction can be a barrier to staying in shelters and for assisted living, limiting long-term options.

“It’s hard for seniors to quit using drugs,” Reiss said. “Veterans struggling with addiction were in the worst environment, especially those who were in Vietnam. They experienced trauma and pressure to use drugs and do things they wouldn’t normally do. All our seniors grew up in a different culture. Everyone with addiction deserves sympathy and encouragement.”

The aging homeless Portlanders at Blanchet House fit into three categories, Reiss said. Some are addicted. Some could better manage addiction if they were offered housing, but there is no room for them in assisted living or other facilities. Some have no addictions but struggle cognitively. For anyone with memory loss, it is extremely difficult to deal with bureaucracy and provide a mailing address, ID and necessary paperwork to qualify for housing.

“A lot of our seniors sleep under jackets on the sidewalk and can’t put up a tent,” Reiss said. “It is hard to keep track of a tent and not lose it. This is prevalent about all their items. We need to give our seniors unlimited access to phones, clothes, shoes, socks, underwear and diapers. They get taken advantage of and lose these. They need to have replenished supplies more than anyone and are stuck in the elements. I have to get supplies to some seniors every day.”

Rose Haven also replaces stolen or lost IDs and supplies, along with providing technical services for completing job and housing applications.

Long-term housing

“What we do is an investment,” Katzke said. “We’ve invested time.”

Bob is applying for Social Security Disability Income, or SSDI, benefits and then can apply for housing.

“We started the process of applying for SSDI last spring,” Katzke said. “It could still be six months or more before approval, then the wait for funds is usually several more months. Once approved, we can start looking for assisted living that will accept his insurance. You can imagine how much more difficult this process is if a person is suffering from cognitive issues and does not have the support Bob has benefited from.”

According to the Harvard study, “Housing America’s Older Adults 2023,” the annual median cost of assisted living and other costs of living in Portland is $75,000. The share of households able to afford assisted living is 16%. For people like Bob, these costs are out of reach without help.

Funding

Like other nonprofits, Blanchet House has to be creative about funding its services. It is supported by individuals, businesses and grants. It uses food recovery and involves many volunteers while serving 1,000 meals a day.

Scott Kerman, Blanchet House executive director, said the organization will receive Metro Supportive Housing Services funds for the first six months of 2024. This is implemented through Multnomah County, specifically the Joint Office of Homeless Services.

“Blanchet House is grateful that agencies that provide vital services during daytime hours are receiving support from (Supportive Housing Services) funds,” Kerman said. “I’m hoping this kind of county support will continue in the future because day centers are struggling to keep up with the need in our community, especially as serious mental illness and substance use disorder continues to escalate. The need we’re serving is urgent, so I’m hopeful that the county and Joint Office will continue to seek improvements that make accessing funding a more expedited and less onerous experience.”

With SHS funding, 99% of formerly unhoused people stayed in long-term housing after a year, OPB reported in November 2023. The Joint Office also surpassed its goal of offering rent assistance to those at risk of eviction. However, $42 million went unspent. According to the county, this is because of staff retention at nonprofits they contract with due to low wages and poor benefits.

There is still a growing need for housing and a sense of urgency among organizations serving homeless populations relying on Multnomah County to efficiently implement funding from Supportive Housing Services. According to Laura Golino de Lovato, Northwest Pilot Program executive director, this would enable older homeless people to access housing stability through Regional Long-term Rent Assistance vouchers.

An elderly woman who often joins the line at Rose Haven exemplifies this need for housing.

“She is in a wheelchair, unable to (use the) toilet on her own,” O’Brien said. “She is not able to go to a shelter where her options are to be on a mat or in a bunk. She has an Adult Protective Services caseworker, but they need time to find options for her. Her eviction makes this especially challenging, and access to nursing or assisted facilities are hard to procure. In the meantime, she is sleeping at bus shelters, experiencing the weather elements and being sexually harassed.”

“She comes to Rose Haven, and we provide her daytime shelter and assist her in finding the best options at the moment — which are never great ones.”