Aging
The number of Americans older than 65 will double in the next 40 years, reaching 80 million by 2040. Alongside this growth, many more older adults will need access to affordable and secure housing.
UCSF BHHI’s research on aging focuses on California’s older population, the housing supply available to older adults, affordability issues, the connection between housing, health, and public services, and the residential patterns of older homeless adults.
Related Resources
Image
News
Many Older Adults ‘Will Die Homeless,’ As Home Prices Surge and Safety Nets Fail
MarketWatch
June 11, 2024
Image
News
Many Older Adults ‘Will Die Homeless,’ As Home Prices Surge and Safety Nets Fail
MarketWatch
June 11, 2024
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 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."
Read the Full Article
Image
News
For an Older Homeless Population, a New Type of Care
New York Times
June 10, 2024
Image
The aging of the homeless population is a stark demographic shift. Margot Kushel, MD, director of the 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.
Read the Full Article
Image
News
CA Homeless Population Now Adults 50 and Over
Fox Los Angeles
June 3, 2024
Image
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 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."
Read the Full Article