Aging and on the streets

In the US, as housing costs rise and baby boomers age, growing numbers of the homeless are older. Between 2007 and 2014, there was a 20 percent increase nationwide in individuals over 50 living on the streets. They now make up more than one-third of the homeless in the United States. Portland — long struggling to decrease its large and visible homeless population — also has seen a recent jump. Between 2013 and 2015, the number of homeless people over age 55 grew by 23 percentage. This article discusses initiatives undertaken by charities in the city of Portland to accommodate the homeless.