More than 160,000 homeless seniors in EU and UK, says report

Around 170,000 seniors over 65 are homeless in the European Union and the United Kingdom, a vulnerable population that emergency accommodation structures are struggling to care for, at a time when the number of homeless people is increasing, associations warned on Tuesday.

The number of elderly people “on the street, urgently housed and cared for in centers dedicated to homeless people can be estimated at 166,261”, indicates a report from the European Federation of Associations Working with Homeless People (FEANTSA) and the Housing Foundation. To establish their estimate, the associations carried out a calculation based on censuses by age of homeless people, in countries with this type of data.

By adding up the number of elderly homeless people in nine countries, they arrived at an average rate of 0.148%. Compared to the elderly population of the EU and the United Kingdom, this percentage gives 166,261 homeless seniors. We tend to imagine seniors as an age group spared from difficulties “but within each generation there are strong inequalities”, underlined Ruth Owen, deputy director of the European Federation, at a press conference. Where data exists, the share of elderly people among the homeless varies greatly: from 1.6% in Ireland, to 8.9% in Germany and up to 44% in Hungary.

Accommodation unsuitable for loss of autonomy

Elderly homelessness is increasing, posing challenges for emergency accommodation facilities. They are “designed to accommodate a relatively autonomous public” in “a logic of transition”, describes the report. The buildings, often without an elevator or equipped with bunk beds, are not suitable for people losing their autonomy. And the latter have more care needs, which the social sector is not able to provide, due to a lack of resources and skills.

In total, across all age groups, the report estimates the number of people on the streets, emergency accommodation and care in reception homes in Europe at 1.4 million, an increase over one year (1.3 million in 2024). “Exploding waiting lists, people tossed from one accommodation to another without a lasting solution, lengthening stays for lack of an exit”: the systems are under pressure, leading the actors to “sort the public” and “toughen” the conditions for access. A policy “with deadly effects”, warn the associations. They call on each State to adopt and implement “updated and ambitious” “national strategies” to combat homelessness.