‘A housing crisis on steroids.' Seniors are increasingly living in cars.

Boston Globe

21-05-2025

She fled an abusive marriage three years ago, carrying what she could fit in one suitcase. Her weight and blood pressure shot up, her knees gave out, her ability to work declined, and, with little money, she resorted to alternately renting a room from a friend and couch surfing at her daughter's home in Boston.
'A lot of people didn't know I was homeless; they thought I was back just chillin' with my daughter,' Furr said. 'Just having that secret, I felt embarrassed because I was in my 50s, and I just couldn't understand how I ended up here.'
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After months of ferrying belongings from place to place, she found an apartment in October with
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Sometimes, just a relatively small amount of money to help pay a late utility or tax bill, or basic house repairs, can prevent or delay homelessness, said
'We found that out of 119 people we helped last year, we provided an average of $116.40 to each person to prevent them from becoming homeless,' she said.
Now,
'I am finding more seniors living in their cars,' said Sheri Miller-Bedau, a city health inspector in Attleboro.
'We are in Massachusetts. We have great schools. We are supposed to be leading edge. How is this happening?'
She said local shelters were so full this past winter that even older adults living in their cars were not considered an emergency and were told they had at least a six-month wait.
Staff from the
'In January alone in Hampden county, 45 people over 65 were identified as homeless, five of whom were sleeping outside,' said Pamela Schwartz, the network director. 'These numbers are cause for alarm and for action.'
Schwartz and others are backing
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The Somerville pilot program started in February with $100,000 in
state funding and has so far helped 10 households with older adults remain in their homes by paying a portion of their rent and also helping them enroll in other assistance programs.
But that's a fraction of those needing help. As of last October, 271 older adults in Somerville were on a federal affordable housing waitlist, and of that total, just four found housing in 2024.
The shortest wait time was 10 months, said Ellen Shachter, who directs the Somerville Office of Housing Stability.
'I don't have the illusion that any one program is going to be enough to keep every older adult in their home until there's a permanent solution,' she said.
But the Bridge program, which is hoping for $200,000 from the Legislature in the new fiscal year beginning July 1, is a start, she said.
Another proposal, by Senator Julian Cyr, a Provincetown Democrat, aims to help residents aged 65 and older who often find themselves house rich but cash poor, living on a fixed income in homes where they can no longer afford the taxes or upkeep.
The bill expands the state's current
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Cyr, whose district — Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket — is home to the state's oldest population, said it's becoming increasingly common to see seniors living in their cars.
'It's a housing crisis on steroids,' he said. 'When I stop at a park or restroom [on the Cape], I will often see a car, a sedan packed to the gills, and there is an older person, usually an older woman, who is living in the car.'
Furr, the former health aide who couch-surfed for two years and is now living in Hearth affordable housing in Boston, is hoping to help other women who find themselves in the precarious place she was in not that long ago.
'I've seen women sit at the bus stop and their whole life is in their backpack,' she said. 'I know their pain.'
Research indicates people who are homeless
Since receiving housing last fall, Furr has lost 30 pounds. Her blood pressure is in check. Her energy is back. And she's working: she's the night manager of the building where she now lives.
She's also talking to Hearth about helping her open a new health center that would help other women.
'At 55, 56 years old, if you got to put your life on your back and sit outside all day, you could be the victim of anything,' she said.
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She envisions a place that helps prevent homelessness by providing a meal, friendship, education, counseling, and help to find housing, if that's what's needed.
'I appreciate the help that I got,' Furr said. 'I don't want to just say, 'I appreciate it.' I want to do something.'
Kay Lazar can be reached at