One Friday night in late September, hundreds of people gathered at Portland’s Newmark Theater to attend the premiere of No Place to Grow Old – a documentary about the growing crisis of homelessness among older adults. The film was produced by a Portland-based nonprofit called Humans for Housing and follows three elder Portlanders, two of whom are experiencing homelessness and a third who is on the verge of losing his housing.
Michael Larson founded the organization after graduating from college in Spokane, where he studied sociology, explored documentary filmmaking and volunteered with the unhoused community. His interest in addressing homelessness comes from his own experience growing up in the foster care system, where many are at risk of homelessness or housing insecurity after they age out of foster care.
“We knew we wanted to make a film about homelessness to help humanize people in Portland,” Michael said. “As we began working with and connecting with organizations in this space — and looking at the statistics around Multnomah County and in Portland, but also across the nation — what continued to come up was the issue around older adults.”
Michael Larson founded the nonprofit Humans For Housing to humanize people experiencing homelessness in Portland and spark discussion around solutions.
A crisis unfolding
As Michael discovered, recent research has predicted a “silver tsunami,” where the number of older adults experiencing homelessness nationwide is expected to increase dramatically, far exceeding the capacity of the social safety net. In a 2019 paper, University of Pennsylvania researcher Dennis Culhane and his colleagues analyzed data in three major cities and found that the population of older adults is expected to grow two and a half to three times by 2030.
According to Culhane, this is a “birth cohort” issue, disproportionately impacting people born in the latter half of the baby boomer generation, between 1955 and 1965. Demographer Richard Easterlin theorized that higher numbers of poverty and homelessness among this population is due to an excess supply of workers at the time they were first entering the labor market, in addition to multiple economic recessions in the 1970s and 1990s, reduced union membership and deteriorating social safety net. Race and racism also play a role: Black men had an unemployment rate of nearly 25% in 1983 — almost double the rate ten years before and after that time.
Today, one in five (20%) older adult households nationwide are renters, and those numbers are higher for Black (37%) and Latine (34%) households. For the millions of seniors who depend on social security income, monthly benefits are unable to keep up with the cost of living, and particularly the large rent increases happening in areas across the country.
Incomes typically decline over time as one ages, connected to changes like retirement, reduced work hours or death of a spouse. Medical issues that come with older age can prevent someone from working or make it difficult to find suitable work before they reach retirement age, while adding additional expenses for the household. Due to these factors, the number of cost-burdened older adults (households who pay more than 30% of their income for housing) is at an all-time high.
By now, the predicted tsunami has arrived: about 50% of single adults experiencing homelessness are age 50 or older, up from only 11% in the early 90’s. And more people are experiencing homelessness for the first time in their later years than ever before. In a recent study on elder homelessness in Oakland, Calif., nearly half of participants lost their housing for the first time when they were over age 50, typically due to one or more destabilizing crises they didn’t have the resources to manage.
People who have already experienced homelessness in their younger years are more likely to have serious medical or behavioral health issues; in fact, chronically homeless adults typically have the biological health of a housed person 20 years older.
To address this crisis, Culhane and other researchers recommend a combination of different types of programming to serve homeless elder adults: short-term, long-term and emergency rent assistance, combined with a level of case management that fits each person’s needs.
A regional response
In 2020, Metro voters approved the supportive housing services measure to fund these types of programs. Metro distributes tax revenue to Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington Counties, who contract with nonprofit organizations to serve community members who are experiencing housing insecurity or homelessness.
Northwest Pilot Project is one of Multnomah County’s 70 contracted SHS service providers. They have been serving low-income elder Portlanders for 55 years with services like housing case management and homelessness prevention.
These days, about three in four people who reach out to the organization for support have recently received a rent increase they can’t afford. “There is a certain level of desperation and people just not knowing what they're going to do next,” said Northwest Pilot Project’s Housing Access Manager Jason Coulthurst, “and really feeling terrified of the prospect of becoming homeless.” As Jason explained, many people want to work, but struggle to find jobs that pay enough to cover their rent. “I hear from a lot of them [that] they feel that there's real age discrimination happening against them,” he said.
Jason Coulthurst is the Housing Access Manager at Northwest Pilot Project. He has been with the organization for 18 years.
For program participants who are already experiencing homelessness when they are connected with the organization, the loss of housing was often triggered by a catastrophic event like the death of a partner, loss of a job, car accident or onset of a chronic illness or condition. To add to the challenges, the healthcare system offers few resources for low-income people who need intensive support.
Now, thanks to Metro’s SHS fund and its regional long-term rent assistance program, Northwest Pilot Project is expanding its program to provide permanent supportive housing to over 100 people. PSH combines housing with a long-term rent subsidy (participants pay 30% of their income for rent and utilities) and intensive case management for individuals who have experienced prolonged homelessness and have at least one disability.
With the PSH program, the organization can do “more than just get [people] into housing,” explained Permanent Supportive Housing Manager Lila Pearman. “We help them keep their housing by having dedicated people working with small caseloads and providing those services.” Six case managers support program participants as they face the challenges that often come with aging, like cognitive and physical decline.
In addition to the rent subsidy and intensive case management, SHS funding has also enabled Northwest Pilot Project to offer resources like meal delivery, housekeeping, and mental health services. According to Lila, participants have typically experienced homelessness for one to ten years and often struggle with navigating systems to meet their basic needs.
Northwest Pilot Project Executive Director Laura Golino de Lovato described the impact of the SHS fund as “transformational.” The regional long-term rent assistance vouchers are “incredible,” she explained; “they have done more for eviction prevention and housing stabilization for our clients than anything but a [federal] Section 8 voucher, which is hard to get.”
Before voters passed the SHS measure, the organization had to patch together different funding sources to support clients who were facing homelessness. Funds were limited, which meant the organization could only help a small portion of people in need. They could also only offer a rent subsidy temporarily, with an understanding that the participant had to move into the first available low-income apartment that met their accessibility needs.
This often meant a long period of uncertainty and anxiety for someone who was already struggling, as the end of funding loomed in the distance, and with it, homelessness. Additionally, participants sometimes had to relocate to new homes far away from their communities and support networks. This could mean moving more than once, as a participant tried to find long-term housing that was a better fit.
“There are so many seniors that we talk to that are being priced out of their homes,” said Jason. “They want to stay where they're at. And sometimes moving them several times to get into stable housing - it feels kind of cruel to do that to somebody.”
With the RLRA vouchers, program participants can access market rate rental housing immediately, or they can choose to stay where they are if they’re currently housed. They also have the flexibility to move to housing that better meets their needs as they evolve over time, and to live in areas where they have community ties. “When someone gets to go back to the neighborhood they haven't been able to afford for the last 15 years,” Lila reflected, “that’s a huge win.”
Metro’s RLRA program was modeled on the organization’s 2018 long-term rent assistance pilot program, which ran for a period of 18 months with funding from Meyer Memorial Trust. The program was the vision of Northwest Pilot Project housing advocate Bobby Weinstock. According to an evaluation of the program by a third-party research firm, “many [participants] reported gaining feelings of optimism, hopefulness, and excitement for the future, and some described this as a shift from ‘surviving’ to ‘living.’”
Northwest Pilot Project has also been able to offer more competitive wages for staff thanks to SHS funding. This is critical in a field that is “100% relationship-based,” Laura explained. Participant success is increased by creating and maintaining trust with support staff, which means employee retention is vital to the organization’s mission.
As of this fall, nearly 2,900 households in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties are living in stable housing with RLRA vouchers.
Perry’s Story
Perry was born and raised in the Albina area of Portland, where he has deep community roots and many family members. He is 67 years old, and at age 59, experienced homelessness for the first time.
Perry had been living with his mother, and when she passed away, wasn’t able to stay in their home. His family bonded together after their mother’s death and he was able to sleep on siblings’ couches for a while. This made things a little easier, but “it’s not like having your own place,” he explained. “I always had to worry about unnecessary stuff — other people's problems — and I'm too old for that stuff.”
Perry started sleeping outside, in his car, and tried shelters — which he found overcrowded and uncomfortable. He was also struggling with intermittent with pain from a previous injury that resulted in metal in his elbow and neck.
Five years ago, with Northwest Pilot Project’s help, Perry moved into his North Portland apartment. It’s the longest he’s had his own place. “That was major for me,” he reflected, “just being able to be responsible enough to pay the bills, to have the money — because I never had the money.”
When Perry first started working with the organization, he remembers them having compassion for what he was going through. They helped him overcome barriers like previous evictions so he could qualify for the apartment.
He’s been working with his current caseworker Nick for a year now. “It's hard to put him in a bag and say what he is,” Perry said of Nick, “he’s all things at the right time.” Nick has helped Perry improve his credit, fix his car when it needed repair, set up a medical alert device, and get a HOP card for public transit. He has also supported and encouraged Perry to become more comfortable on the computer so he can be more self-sufficient.
Perry and his caseworker Nick consider summer event options for Perry's cotton candy business. Perry's case management and rent assistance is paid for through Metro's supportive housing services fund.
Mostly importantly, Nick calls just to check in. Sometimes when Perry is feeling upset about something this prompts him to reflect and process. It’s good to have someone you can trust. “You really can tell him anything,” Perry explained.
Last summer, with Nick’s support, Perry started a seasonal cotton candy business to earn some extra income and stay engaged with his community. He continues to volunteer regularly as a cook at Loaves and Fishes — a nonprofit that provides hot meals to seniors. As a person of spiritual faith, giving back to the community is important to him: “Being in service; that's part of the faith walk,” he said. “To not always think that you got to get something in return.”
Kenny’s Story
Kenny was born in Portland and lived most of his life in rural communities outside the city. He worked for the Department of Defense in the Army and Navy and then ran four adult foster care homes with his partner before they got divorced. After that chapter ended, he went back to school and earned a degree in horticulture but struggled to find work in his new field.
Several years ago he was living in an apartment in Gresham, but when the landlord raised the rent from $535 a month to $1,835, he had to move. The problem was, there weren’t any market rate apartments he could afford on his social security income.
Kenny moved into a friend’s house in Welches but lost his housing again when there was a major fire due to arson that left the house uninhabitable. He bought an RV and parked it in his parents’ driveway for six months until his parents sold the house. He had housing lined up so he sold the RV, but when that fell through, he started living in the woods, public parks and the Springwater Corridor Trail.
One day while visiting the library, Kenny heard about the Native American Youth and Family Center. With Indigenous Alaskan heritage on his father’s side, Kenny reached out to NAYA and a case worker moved him into a motel for six months until Emmons Place — where he now resides — opened.
Kenny live in Emmons Place in Northwest Portland, a new affordable apartment community with 48 apartments designated as permanent supportive housing. Kenny's rent assistance and case management are paid for by Metro's supportive housing services fund.
At Emmons Place, Kenny lives in permanent supportive housing with services from Northwest Pilot Project. Like Perry, he pays one third of his income toward rent and utilities. Kenny's case worker Bill connected him with a discount on his utility bills and monthly food boxes. “Anything I need I just ask Bill,” Kenny explained, “but I got everything I need, so I don't ask.” Looking to the future, Kenny would like to find a regular volunteer opportunity where he can put his horticulture skills to use.
Kenny is grateful for a stable place to live, but worries if something changes with these resources he’ll be homeless again. Seeing many vacant apartments in new buildings downtown, Kenny reflected, “we don’t have a homelessness problem, we have a housing problem.”
Looking toward the future to meet a growing need
“We're housing more and more people and getting them into stable housing,” Michael said, thinking about what he learned making No Place To Grow Old, “But why does our population continue to actually increase? That's because our inflow is still at a higher rate than our outflow.” That’s why, he explained, it’s so critical to look at the role of the housing market and escalating rents. No matter what event or events lead to the loss of home, inability to continue paying rent is a near constant thread.
Northwest Pilot Project staff believe an expanded rental voucher system is needed to address the growing crisis of homelessness among older adults. The RLRA voucher program prioritizes people with the highest need, which is a great start. But there are, as Laura explained, so many seniors who don't need supportive services but who simply cannot pay the rent.
Rent vouchers are “the most upstream solution to homelessness you can find,” she said. “You stabilize someone's rent and they will not become homeless…You know that they're going to be stable, and then you are saving so much time and resource because you are not working with them on an ongoing basis.”
Doing this work for the past eight years, “I am always so incredibly amazed by the resilience and hope and positive attitude that so many of our clients have when they're facing just a really horrible situation,” Laura reflected. “I think that's why all of us at Pilot Project do this work: it could be us [or it] could be your parent or cousin or sister.”
Read more about the growing crisis of homelessness and housing instability for older adults