The fastest-growing homeless population? Seniors [calmatters.com]

Carey Sipp 2/14/2312:41 PM

By Ana B. Ibarra, Photo: Martin do Nascimento/CalMatters, CalMatters, February 10, 2023

Norma Johnson cracks a faint smile as she adjusts her stylish cat-eye glasses.

She’s at St. Mary’s Center’s cafeteria in West Oakland, where older adults in interim housing or living on the streets can drop by for a free meal. But Johnson’s mind is elsewhere. Her treasured red leather rocking chair, along with most of her belongings, sits in a storage unit. She’s afraid if she doesn’t pay her $500 balance soon, the storage unit operator will auction everything.

“I gotta pull a rabbit out of my hat,” Johnson, 65, said during a rainy January day. “I don’t want to lose the things I do have. I don’t have a house, and now I won’t have,” she hangs her head before finishing that sentence.

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