MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
The number of homeless seniors has increased dramatically across the country. The gray wave, as it is called, is driven by inflation, rising rents and a lack of affordable housing, especially for people with disabilities. Aaron Bolton with Montana Public Radio reports.
AARON BOLTON, BYLINE: Two years ago, Kim Hilton and his partner decided they had to split up. They didn't want to, but they couldn't afford any apartments in the Flathead Valley in northwest Montana - not on what they got from Social Security. At 68 years old, Hilton moved into his truck, a Chevy Avalanche.
KIM HILTON: Two nights that were really cold, you know, when it was 20 below - something like that - the fuel pump went out on my truck, and I was in the cold.
BOLTON: Hilton is a diabetic. His insulin froze. He's an incredibly optimistic guy, but his spirit broke.
HILTON: I said, I just want to go to sleep and not wake up, then I won't have to worry about anything. I can sit here and just be a little Popsicle in the truck.
BOLTON: Hilton was one of tens of thousands of seniors who became homeless for the first time in 2022. University of Pennsylvania researcher Dennis Culhane has estimated that the number of elderly homeless people in the U.S. is going to triple between 2019 and 2030.
DENNIS CULHANE: We are on track to meet that prediction. In fact, the growth has been slightly higher than we predicted.
BOLTON: Montana has one of the fastest-growing homeless populations in the country, according to federal data. Wendy Wilson is with ASSIST, a nonprofit that helps Flathead residents struggling with health problems. But increasingly, Wilson is helping older people like Hilton find housing.
WENDY WILSON: And it's dire situations that they're in, and they have medical issues.
BOLTON: She was able to get Hilton out of his truck and into a local shelter in early 2023, but his health went downhill fast.
SONA BLUE: He had two, three episodes when he literally fainted on us.
BOLTON: Sona Blue manages that shelter.
BLUE: It scared us because we have no medical care in this facility.
BOLTON: That's not usual for shelters like this. The doctor who treated Hilton in the ER discovered he had developed pressure wounds after five months living in his truck.
HILTON: He took a picture, and he showed me. He says, see that white thing? And I said, yeah. And he says, that's your heel bone.
BOLTON: Ultimately, both of Hilton's legs had to be amputated. With all his medical needs, going back to the shelter wasn't an option. Wilson was able to get in one of the few slots in a Medicaid program that helps pay for assisted living apartments, but it can take a year or more for units to open. Caitlin Synovec, with the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, says seniors across the country are playing the same dangerous waiting game.
CAITLIN SYNOVEC: Sometimes they can't be safely served in-shelter because they have issues with incontinence or cognition, and they are more likely then to become unsheltered and living on the streets.
BOLTON: Seniors are more likely to die on the streets than younger people. Homeless shelters just for seniors are cropping up in larger cities like Salt Lake. Synovec says it's not enough.
SYNOVEC: If we don't increase the amount of affordable and accessible housing, the barriers of resolving it really persist.
BOLTON: And accessibility is a huge barrier for older homeless people like Hilton. Because of his new wheelchair, he now needs a ground-floor apartment. This fall, he finally got a spot in an assisted living facility that would take his Medicaid waiver. Inside, he's testing out his new electric wheelchair.
HILTON: It goes fast (laughter) for a wheelchair.
BOLTON: Yeah. Don't want to find out?
HILTON: Well, I'm going to find out when I go down to dinner.
BOLTON: Hilton is more than grateful to finally have housing stability. Wilson is happy, too.
WILSON: That was a whoo-hoo moment (laughter). That was very much a relief.
BOLTON: As long as the facility stays open and the Medicaid waiver program isn't cut, she's confident he'll have made it through homelessness. She says he's one of the lucky few. For NPR News, I'm Aaron Bolton in Columbia Falls, Montana.
KELLY: And that story comes from NPR's partnership with Montana Public Radio and KFF Health News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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