– The economy’s downturn and rising housing prices have left many senior citizens homeless, and Haven for Hope is seeing a spike in older clients.“I ended up on the streets because the economy was very hard, and now it’s gotten increasingly harder. The price on housing, and rent is sky high, and people are already out on the streets are at a serious disadvantage,” he said.“I ended up in a tunnel or a cardboard box, and I got tired of that. And I said, ‘This isn’t me.
“They go straight into a public housing unit. So instead of waiting four years on the general waitlist, they can be here. We do the paperwork and they wait maybe a month to a unit,” Adkins explained.For people even in the general community, she said, “There’s waitlist that could be up to five years right now, if you’re even lucky enough to be on the waitlist. For section eight right now, it’s not open. So you can’t apply for it right now.
“Learning how to deal with everything that’s changed. Because housing, the cost of food is going up, and that’s the basic essentials that everybody needs,” said Finley, who has signed up for every finance and basic skills class available at the shelter.“When you can put a key in your own house, go to sleep, and wake up in your own house, everything’s good,” Powell said, emotion welling up in his eyes.