‘People are so judgmental’: the growing cohort of over-55s facing homelessness

When Richard Hewett’s relationship broke down, he was forced to leave his partner’s council house – but found his disability benefits didn’t stretch far enough to get him his own flat in his Essex home town. He resorted to the next best option: sleeping in his car.

It wasn’t what he had expected, aged 59. At 6ft 2in, he squeezed into a Ford Focus and struggled to sleep. When he broke his ankle, he couldn’t look after it properly, contracted sepsis and had his leg amputated.

But what stings the most is the feeling of shame. He was no longer able to take care of his appearance, which he had always taken pride in. He went to the toilet in a park daily, where passersby would ask: “Can’t you go somewhere else?”

“It was horrendous,” he said. “People are so terribly judgmental … It really had quite an effect on my mental health.”

Hewett is one of a rapidly rising number of people in older age groups facing homelessness as housing benefit levels fall behind rents, with recent figures from the Office for National Statistics showing that 15,690 households headed by over-65s are at risk of homelessness, a rise of 79% in the last five years.

Hewett thinks “life is getting harder” for older people, especially those who are dependent on state support and who didn’t benefit from buying council homes but are instead now suffering from the dearth those sell-offs left behind.

“Life has become so much more costly,” he said, adding that austerity and benefits freezes hadn’t helped. “They were bad enough before then,” he said.

Sarah Elliott, the chief executive of Shelter, said that as the population aged and rents soared, the charity was increasingly hearing from older people “who have been wrenched from the tight-knit communities they have lived in for decades and shunted into dismal temporary accommodation”.

“Pensioners should be enjoying their hard-earned retirement, not facing the threat of homelessness,” she said. “To make sure people have dignity and stability in their old age, we must limit in-tenancy rent hikes and, ultimately, build a new generation of social rent homes.”

Several homelessness charities told the Guardian that rising numbers of people aged over 55 were seeking their help. Chain (Combined Homelessness and Information Network), which records information on rough sleeping, reported an increase in people in this age bracket sleeping rough in London from 450 at the beginning of 2024 to 713 at the end of 2025.

Alexander Brown, the director of Soup Kitchen London, has seen “a clear increase” in the number of over-65s over the last two years, with this group now about 20% of the 200 people the charity helps each morning. They cite the rising cost of food and utilities, along with poor physical health and isolation, as factors.

The Greater Change charity, which has supported Hewett with a grant, said that over the last four years the median age among the people it supports had increased by more than eight years.

Its chief executive, Jonathan Tan, first observed this in 2024 when the proportion of over-55s it helped doubled to 12%, from 6% in 2023. It has remained above 10% since.

He said older clients were rarely pushed into homelessness by a single event. Instead, “loss, ill health, financial pressure and systemic gaps” pushed people into crisis, compounded by rising living costs, the loss of employment later in life and limited opportunities to re-enter the workforce, he said.

Navigating benefits and pensions through complex online systems could be overwhelming for many older people, he added, with support often arriving too late when they were already in crisis.

“We do think it will get worse … temporary accommodation is already under severe pressure and there is very little flexibility in the system,” he said.

Jess Harris, who researches homelessness at King’s College London, said there were two main cohorts of older homeless people: those at “the sharp end of need” who have experienced multiple adverse events – often addiction, mental illness and childhood trauma – who have lived on and off the streets for decades, and those more recently pushed into temporary homelessness.

The problem is compounded by an under-researched “social care gap”, which perpetuates homelessness by failing to prevent and manage complex health problems, with older people living in hostels receiving health and social care “in establishments that really weren’t designed for these populations”, she said.

Morgan Vine, the director of policy at Independent Age, said the rise in older homelessness was “linked to the growing number of older people who find themselves living in the private rented sector”, with one-third of older private renters in poverty after housing costs.

Although average UK rent has risen by 10.5% since April 2024, housing benefit has been frozen since 2024, which she urged the government to address.

This was the experience for Sarah*, in her mid-60s. She ended up sofa surfing with friends and family after a relationship breakdown, and – like Hewett – learned that her benefits would not cover monthly rent or a deposit. She found herself in a double bind when her benefits were stopped due to the lack of a fixed address.

“I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody, because you’d be sleeping on sofas and things like that. You’ve got to keep on moving around every three nights,” she said.

“I think it’s difficult for older people now, especially if they don’t have friends and family to help them. They can’t afford much with prices going up … The government should help older people more to find a place to stay.”

A Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government spokesperson said: “No one deserves to experience homelessness. That is why we are taking action to prevent homelessness and investing £3.6bn in homelessness and rough sleeping services.

“We’re also tackling the root cause of homelessness by building 1.5m new homes and investing £39bn in social and affordable housing. Our Renters’ Rights Act will also empower private tenants to challenge excessive rent hikes and give tenants the added security that they deserve.”