‘Unconscionable’: Baby boomers in America are becoming homeless at a rate ‘not seen since the Great Depression’ — here’s what’s driving this terrible trend
Experts have dubbed it a “silver tsunami.”
In a 2020 journal article for the American Society on Aging, Kushel wrote that of all the homeless single adults in the early 1990s, 11% were aged 50 and older. By 2003, she says that percentage grew to 37%.
Now, the over-50 demographic represents half of the homeless single adults in the U.S. — with no sign of their numbers slowing, leaving baby boomers (those aged 57 to 75) particularly vulnerable.
“Elderly homelessness has been rare within the contemporary homeless problem. We’ve always had very few people over 60 who’ve been homeless historically,” Culhane from the University of Pennsylvania told PBS NewsHour.
But in recent years, Culhane says that has changed. Older Americans, he says, are “now arguably the fastest rising group.”
This isn’t because of Biden, it started before 2000. The elimination of company pension might have been the main reason. The 401k that companies wanted to replace pensions wasn't enough and most people didn’t have the disciple to save on their own and make wise investment decisions. The majority of the homeless didn't go to college.
