Homelessness among elderly needs action

As baby boomers reach retirement age, a growing number in Hawaii are being threatened with life on the streets because of rising costs in housing and health care. It’s imperative that a comprehensive, robust review of this emerging problem get under way, with a stronger sense of urgency from government to address truly affordable rentals for senior citizens burdened by fixed incomes yet facing more health woes.

About 7.1 percent of the homeless on Oahu are 62 or older, but their number is likely to increase as residents reaching that age grows. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development projects that elderly without roofs will increase by one-third from those in 2010 by 2020. For the most part, they are elderly who had not experienced homelessness prior to turning 65 years of age.

Alarmingly, that trend is already being noticed in Hawaii by those on the front lines. Increases in homeless elderly are being reported across the island: from more seniors at the state-funded emergency Next Step Shelter in Kakaako to much longer waits for low-income senior housing — up to seven years from a previous two to three years.

Military veteran Hilarion Phillip, 65, is fairly typical, having struggled to get off the streets after becoming homeless two years ago. He was unable to find a place he could afford until moving into a subsidized rental studio on Kuhio Avenue in November, with the help of a homeless service agency.

"On the outside, I slept on a chair," Phillip, originally from Punaluu, told the Star-Advertiser’s Mary Vorsino.

Now, he said, "The big difference is a place and a bed to sleep in."

For the elderly, resources and benefits often consist of Social Security, Medicare and, for some, Supplemental Security Income under a federal program that pays benefits of up to $698 for the blind or disabled. Those whose income is less than half of the area median income qualify for federal subsidized housing programs, all of which have growing waiting lists. The wait time at Chinatown’s Pauahi Kupuna Hale, for example, grew from three years in 2008 — already lengthy — to a dismaying seven years.

The Institute of Human Services operates the state’s largest emergency shelter, where 434 people 51 and older stayed at its facilities — up from 355 people of that age group the year before. Other shelters experienced similar increases. People 62 and over who slept in cubicles at the Next Step shelter grew from 16 in 2008 to 39 in 2012. Seniors at Catholic Charities’ "urgent" waiting list — those already homeless or facing imminent homelessness — grew to 83 by December, nearly triple the 30 in previous years.

Darryl Vincent, chairman of Partners in Care, noted that Hawaii has seen more elderly who are homeless or on the edge because they are on fixed incomes, have greater barriers to unemployment and need intensive care or other services.

"We’re trying to make sure we can get them help," he said.

That need, however, is not going away. As baby boomers continue becoming senior citizens, the lines are expected to grow dramatically, requiring extensive policy changes. The deficient supply of basic, decent housing affordable to seniors must be addressed — and federal and local programs reviewed for better aid — in order to meet the demand for more housing units for the nation’s most vulnerable.