According to several studies I've seen, the average lifespan expectancy for homeless people is just under 50 years old. This really needs to be considered in this topic.

So sending elders outdoors is sure a way to thin the herd, it would seem. I'm now about 10 years beyond the average homeless lifespan, having been illegally forced into the predicament. And have had to face the harsh reality that there's hardly a better way to disable a legal adversary than to do that to them, since there's an almost complete absence of any real, practical help once you can get them out there. And it's next to impossible to continue fighting from here on your own.

The other day, I was talking with an acquaintance. He's not homeless, but is "friends" with some of us that are. In passing, I said something about "longevity" but not at all even on the topic about lifespan or homelessness. Ironically, for some reason, he "heard" that to mean a reference to my own mortal prospects and he immediately added remarks about how par for the course my demise would be (and others here in similar predicament and age ... even adding how "no one would bat an eye" at that.

And he's right.

We need more voiceless from both the homeless themselves and the people who help them without earningg anymoney from homeless, heat less and the hungry. They have likely been their themselves. 

One thing I believe about studies is they must be checked out.  If that person been out a few years, or since 35  years of age, I believe it. Otherwise I question even liberal studies. I tear apart conservative studies.

As a citizen of the world, its my DUTY not to believe propaganda. I do not wish to be anyone's puppet.

I know life on the streets are hard, on the body. I also know some people do not get displaced until after their 50's. They are the exception to older folks life expectancy.

What I wonder is meant by the article is if Shannon is trying to tug at the readers heart strings?  Some of us our string-less. We believe the world will provide. If it does not we turn our heads. Still nestle in the false belief, the world will provide.

 Forget about the little dog and its older female owner who

were burnt to death in her car in CA this year. Its better to trust that the system works fine. It does not. bit we need to hear these word 10 to 30 time's before we check it out.

Another reason why Senior Citizens and even some of those in Middle Age are finding their ways into homelessness is because of how lax the laws (and thus ethics) have been about the pensions they were lead to expect at their retirements only to have their employers basically steal the money from them.  A person can't accurately or responsibly plan for their retirement if their employer is lying to them about them having a pension to rely upon when they reach retirement.  This is NOT the retirees' fault.

One big problem that's going to face those who are older is that shelters, particularly when at or nearing capacity, will effectively cherry pick who gets a space.  Someone whose health is compromised, someone who has a disability or who otherwise is going to need more resources for whatever reasons is going to be less likely to get a space and far more likely to end up left on the streets.  There's also the closely related issue that many shelters, esp. the drop-in homeless shelters, do a very poor job of keeping residents safe from each other and someone who's elderly or otherwise frail may not just have access issues (like with climbing several flights of stairs or getting in and out of a top bunk) but they may be "easy pickings" for the not-so-savory types that sometimes find their way into such shelters.

Then too there's the interconnected issues of how our "assistance" programs discriminate in choosing whom they will or won't help - typically won't help or only provide very limited (and only non-cash) help to those who are childless no matter what their situation.  Now with immediate homelessness, a person *may* (dependent upon local funding and rules) qualify for a housing voucher, but those places tend to be magnets to stuff like drug dealers, prostitution and sex offenders so they're really rough places to live.  Otherwise, they're likely to be stuck hoping they get a spot on the applicable housing wait lists and survive till their names are called (and it can be a wait of years).

Ultimately, two things are at the root of why there are this many problems at getting the necessary help in a timely manner.  The first being that our nation continues to take a realistic assessment of what is true poverty in this country so it can develop realistic assistance programs with adequate funding and reasonable rules.  The second being that our nation seems to simply refuse to honor Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.