Elderly Homeless: A Comparison of Older and Younger Adult Emergency Shelter Seekers in Bakersfield, California

This research report compares characteristics of older homeless adults (age 55 and older) with younger homeless and examines gender differences within each age group. Data are drawn from intake interviews of 3,132 clients presenting at a local homeless center during a 3-year period. The authors find that older and younger clients differ significantly on many important characteristics, such as access to income, the duration of the current homeless episode, patterns of alcohol and substance abuse, and a history of having been in prison. There are also significant gender differences within age groups. The data suggest that pathways to homelessness among older women may be more crisis driven than those of men, whereas older men are more vulnerable to being chronically homeless than are older women. The findings highlight the necessity of considering age differences as well as gender differences among the homeless population in designing programs to reintegrate clients into stable living situations.