The US homeless population is aging. Cities must brace for new challenges.

As cities and counties struggle with upticks in homelessness, they’re facing yet another challenge: an aging population.

And as the oldest baby boomers turn 80 this year, the aging population is coming up against a “perfect storm of stressors,” Jennifer Molinsky, director of the Housing an Aging Society Program at JCHS, said during a recent panel on aging homelessness.

Housing policy decisions Many cities’ housing markets are not set up to accommodate an aging population’s housing needs, Beaverton, Oregon, Mayor Lacey Beaty said during the webinar.

Educating aging communities about local, state and federal programs designed to assist them is also key, according to panelists.

A compounding problem As federal funding policies for homelessness are overhauled under the Trump administration, future financial solutions for aging homelessness remain murky, panelists said.