Trying to Help Elderly Homeless
The stock market is booming. Orange County residents are making more money than they ever have. Yet since March 12, 250 Orange County men, women and children have been sleeping on the streets or in doorways.
During the cold weather months, Shelter for the Homeless of Midway City housed these 250 homeless at the National Guard armories in Santa Ana and Fullerton.
On March 11, the cold weather program closed. Money and time ran out. Each armory holds 125 homeless. Some nights we had to turn people away because we were filled.
As I went around and talked to the homeless at the armory, I realized that about 20% were 55 years of age or older. Some ladies were in their 70s, sleeping on a mat, on a hard floor with 124 other people. This in not exactly a retirement home environment.
Where did things go wrong?
For one woman it was a broken marriage; after 32 years, her husband left her for another woman and told her to get out. One man was disabled at age 58 and unable to collect Social Security. He found himself on the streets.
The stories are too numerous to tell, but they all have the same end: homeless. Shelter for the Homeless is trying to open a house for these seniors.
JIM MILLER
President, CEO
Shelter for the Homeless
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