At the 2019 Oregon Health Forum, panelist Dr. Margot Kushel argued that "The solution to homelessness is to solve our housing crisis." Kushel's experience as a professor of medicine and director of the University of California San Francisco's Homelessness and Housing Initiative, exposed her to growing trends and concerns within the homeless population. As a physician, many of the homeless people she's worked with are increasingly older. This coincides with recent studies in San Francisco showing that 37% of the city's homeless population are adults aged 50 years or older.
Many of these vulnerable elderly adults do not have significant mental health or substance abuse problems.
Instead, what is more likely are sudden events such as loss of job, injury, loss of spouse or increased poverty
that place them at risk for homelessness. In the neighboring city of Oakland, nearly half of the homeless people
50 or older had never experienced homelessness before age 50.
This trend was alarming to doctors like Kushel in 2019, who recognized the increased vulnerability of elderly
adults. Exactly two years later, concern continues among the panelists at the 2021 Oregon Health Forum.
Experts are calling for urgent action and investment in solutions and resources aimed at protecting older
adults. These include social, economic and legislative actions to make housing more affordable for the aging
population. To learn more click here.
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