Aging: All Related Resources

More than 3,000 of the 11,500 people who died while unhoused in Los Angeles County between 2014 and 2023 were 60 and older. This crisis has grown over time. In a groundbreaking study on homelessness in California by Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative researchers found that nearly half of unhoused adults were age 50 and older. Margot Kushel, MD, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, said, "They talk about how ashamed and stigmatized they feel – they know the public thinks they’re bad because they’re outside. And they just feel incredibly alone in the world."

People over age 50 are the fastest-growing segment of people experiencing homelessness and makeup almost half of the total homeless population. These unhoused individuals typically have the health of someone 20 years older in the general population. DeDe Hancock, a CASPEH Lived Expertise Advisory Board member, discusses her own experience with becoming homeless when she was 52 years old, and Margot Kushel, MD, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, outlines the health impacts of older adult homelessness. Ms. Hancock said, "I was going from shelter to shelter. Over seven years, I was out on the street for maybe five days - otherwise, I was in a shelter."

The aging of the homeless population is a stark demographic shift. Margot Kushel, MD, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, found that unhoused people have the health profiles of patients two decades older, with similar rates of incontinence, dementia, and falls. Respite care, a temporary, short-term, 24-hour supervised care for seniors, is rapidly growing for people experiencing homelessness, reflecting the aging of the unhoused population.

A recent special report released by the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative on older adult homelessness found that nearly half of California's homeless population is now 50 and older. These older adults are staying homeless for longer and are in poorer health than their younger peers. Margot Kushel, MD, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, said, "These are people living on fixed incomes, on disability, on really meager pensions, and they really need housing that they can afford."