US Edition'We're people too': Canada's homeless population is aging, changing how shelters run
- Shelters in major Canadian cities are experiencing an increasing number of elderly clients seeking help in 2025, especially those aged 55 and older.
- This rise results from factors like chronic homelessness accelerating physiological aging, insufficient retirement income, and seniors facing eviction after hospital stays.
- Shelters assist elderly clients with medical issues such as dementia and cancer, help with pension applications, and manage challenges with housing costs and waitlists for supportive housing.
- In Calgary, clients aged 51 and older rose from 25.4% in 2024 to 28.4% in 2025, while Red Deer saw the 55-plus group jump from 12% in 2023 to 29% in 2024.
- Experts urge broad cooperation among governments and service providers to expand housing options and implement rent protections for the growing elderly homeless population.
35 Articles
35 Articles
It is not normal for two interviews with different people to end almost identically, with almost identical words. But that was what happened when speaking on the phone with Beatriz Fernández, director of Arrels Fundació, and José Manuel Caballol, director of Hogar Yes, two organizations dedicated to the fight against homelessness. Both of them answered the question that inspires this article: why are there still people living in the street in 20…
How Salem’s Union Gospel Mission is rebounding after stabbing attack
A man who attacked a dozen people with a knife at Salem’s Union Gospel Mission shelter last Sunday night is now in police custody. He’s facing attempted murder and assault charges. Several of the 12 victims suffered serious injuries and were hospitalized. The Union Gospel Mission has operated in Salem for more than 72 years. Mark Hunter, the director of community engagement, has said that while it’s hard to make sense of the attack, he and the o…
'We're people too': Canada's homeless population aging
Seventy-one-year-old Roger Oake sat on a bench outside the Union Gospel Mission shelter in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside after breakfast. He had been sleeping at the shelter for about a month "this time" and said that after several years of homelessness, walking "the beat" during...
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