They lean unsteadily on canes and walkers, or roll along the sidewalks of Skid Row here in beat-up wheelchairs, past soiled sleeping bags, swaying tents and piles of garbage. They wander the streets in tattered winter coats, even in the warmth of spring. They worry about the illnesses of age and how they will approach death without the help of children who long ago drifted from their lives.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s hard when you get older,\u201d said Ken Sylvas, 65, who has struggled with alcoholism and has not worked since he was fired in 2001 from a meatpacking job. \u201cI\u2019m in this wheelchair. I had a seizure and was in a convalescent home for two months. I just ride the bus back and forth all night.\u201d
\nThere were 306,000 people over 50 living on the streets in 2014, the most recent data available, a 20 percent jump since 2007, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. They now make up 31 percent of the nation\u2019s homeless population.
\nThe demographic shift is mirrored by a noticeable but not as sharp increase among homeless people ages 18 to 30, many who entered the job market during the Great Recession. They make up 24 percent of the homeless population. Like the baby boomers, these young people came of age during an economic downturn, confronting a tight housing and job market. Many of them are former foster children or runaways, or were victims of abuse at home.
\nThe surge in older homeless people is driven largely by a single group \u2014 younger baby boomers born between 1955 and 1965, according to an analysis by Dennis P. Culhane, a University of Pennsylvania professor who studies homelessness. This group has made up a third of the total homeless population for several decades\u2026 (Read more in issue.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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