Elderly And Homelessness
Before us we had our older generation, making sure we were okay and that everything was decent for us. Now that we are grown up or currently growing there are things that we may not notice as much as they did. For one at times of need and desperation, I think it's known that the older generation wasn't one to ask for help or for a hand when they didn't have full control on something.
Now with this knowledge think about how many of our elderly do we see on the streets and we don't think anything of it, just another thought that this is another thing that they like or they are just enjoying their time left. How many people generally take into consideration that they aren't out there willfully, but they have nowhere left. With no family sometimes and it being hard to get a job at older ages, just imagine how hard it is paying for housing.
Housing nowadays is something that most people can’t even seem to afford unless you are overworking yourself or you just so happen to live somewhere, where it is cheaper and more affordable. For our older generations and our elders, it is harder for them to find means of working because of their age and their ability to compete with the well bodied younger generation.
So when we take it into view you can understand how it’s harder for people of the older generation to be able to afford housing, with the fact that they can't work as greatly as they used to be able to afford housing, some of them don't have family or relatives that they can fully rely on or who have space and with their older age some housing facilities are less likely to let them into an apartment or housing complex for fear of something happening and giving them a bad name.
A major difference between the more current generations and the younger ones is that the older generations are more reliant on their pride and want to uphold it, for them it may still be a major thing in their life to still have the one ounce of pride and dignity so for them asking for help with something as major as housing and a place to rest their heads.
If older adults living in poverty are people forced to grow old in the streets and in shelters, elderly persons who have recently become homeless or who remain at constant risk of losing housing are dealing with it on the same level of harshness.
Now some may think why not just go into retirement homes or shelters but not every shelter will be able to offer a 65+ year old person a home if a mother with her kid also needs a bed for the night. And retirement homes cost money on average ranging from 1,500 to 4,000 and if extra help is needed it goes higher.
If our elders aren’t able to afford 1,000, 2,000 or 3,000 dollars, rent you have to think where exactly are they going to pull this money for these homes. Just remember to check in with an elder in your community or in your family just to make sure they are okay and remind them that you're always there for them, they aren’t here forever but try to help them while you have them.
Until next time, Niah (They/She)
