09/13/2026
Grandparents Day — Remembering the Grandparents Without a Home
Today, as we celebrate Grandparents Day, our hearts are especially with the grandmothers and grandfathers who will wake up without a home of their own.
Across America, homelessness is aging. In HUD’s 2024 count, approximately 146,150 people experiencing homelessness were age 55 or older—about one in five people counted. Federal officials note that many older adults experience homelessness for the first time later in life, often following a death, divorce, job loss, eviction, health crisis, or an income that simply can no longer keep pace with housing costs.
Here in Florida, the challenge is even more pronounced. State data showed that adults 55 and older represented approximately 28% of Florida’s homeless population in 2024.
This is also the aging of the Baby Boomer generation. Research has identified those born in the latter half of the Baby Boom as particularly vulnerable to homelessness as they age, following decades in which housing costs increasingly outpaced incomes and opportunities to build retirement security diminished for many.
At Talbot House, we see the human beings behind those statistics.
They are grandparents. Veterans. Widows and widowers. People living with severe disabilities. People without health insurance or adequate access to care. People trying to survive on Social Security or other fixed incomes that simply aren’t enough for today’s rent. Some worked their entire lives, raised children, paid bills, helped others, and did everything society told them they were supposed to do.
And still, they became homeless.
They didn’t suddenly stop being someone’s mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, neighbor, or friend because they lost their housing. And homelessness should never be treated as evidence that someone has failed morally.
Research on older-adult homelessness underscores how closely housing, health, disability, fixed incomes, and access to appropriate care intersect. The U.S. Government Accountability Office has specifically identified shortages of affordable, accessible housing and appropriate health and supportive services as major challenges for homeless adults 55 and older.
So this Grandparents Day, while we celebrate the grandparents gathered around family tables, let us also remember the grandparents staying with us at Talbot House.
They deserve more than a bed. They deserve dignity. Healthcare. Safety. Community. And the opportunity to spend the later chapters of their lives somewhere they can call home.
“Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone.” — Psalm 71:9
At Talbot House Ministries, we will continue to stand beside them.
Because after a lifetime of giving, no grandparent should have to grow old without a safe place to call home.
Where Lives Find Hope.
