美国国家公共电台 NPR--Homeless shelters are seeing more senior citizens with no place to live

Homeless shelters are seeing more senior citizens with no place to live

Transcript¹

Low-income seniors are struggling to find housing amid skyrocketing rents and widespread nursing home closures.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

As winter sets in, homeless shelters across the country are seeing more senior citizens with no place to live. There's a mix of reasons why. Montana Public Radio's Aaron Bolton reports.

LISA BEATY: Here, put that over there with that hat.

AARON BOLTON, BYLINE²: In the small town of Columbia Falls, Mont., 64-year-old Lisa Beaty sorts through piles of clothes, jewelry³ and family heirlooms she plans to sell because her landlord just doubled the rent.

BEATY: They're not evicting⁴ me. It's just that, you know, on a fixed⁵ income, I can't do it.

BOLTON: Beaty and her partner Kim Hilton, who's 68, both live on disability payments and can't find a rental⁶ they can afford.

KIM HILTON: This moving thing's just really got the both of us.

BEATY: Unfortunately, it's broke us up. Just...

HILTON: We're still going to be friends and everything, but we're going to be, you know, away from each other. And - I don't know. It's - yeah, it's - it hasn't been a good thing.

BOLTON: Beaty is moving into her daughter's one-bedroom apartment. Hilton, who's recovering from a broken leg and has lots of other health issues, is trying to get into an assisted living facility. He plans to live in his truck while he waits for an opening.

HILTON: That light at the end of the tunnel seems like it's going out.

BOLTON: Homeless advocacy groups say this kind of story is playing out across the country, as rents over the past year have skyrocketed, and thousands of seniors have been displaced by nursing home closures during the pandemic. It's impossible to say exactly how fast the elderly homeless population is growing. Counts typically exclude people over 50 as unsheltered populations rarely live past that age. But the mounting crisis is easy to see inside shelters.

LISA SIROIS: This is our women's wing

BOLTON: At the Poverello Center in Missoula, staffer Lisa Sirois says people 60 and older are quickly becoming one of the largest demographics they serve.

SIROIS: We definitely are seeing more and more, like, folks in their 70s. And we've definitely seen some in their 80s or 90s.

BOLTON: Walking the narrow stairwells in crowded rooms full of bunk⁷ beds, Sirois says the building simply isn't designed for seniors with mobility⁸ issues. Her staff aren't medically trained, and they can't help older guests manage conditions like incontinence.

SIROIS: So really, as soon as someone is unable to make it to the restroom on their own, regularly transfer on their own, really operate independently, we do have to ask them to leave.

BOLTON: Those seniors often have no place to go, says Brian Guyer, who works at the homeless shelter in Bozeman.

BRIAN GUYER: We had to ask this gentleman to find alternative place to stay. And he actually was found outside of a Lowe's store here in Bozeman.

BOLTON: The man had frozen to death. National advocacy groups say the situation didn't develop overnight but is becoming a crisis as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid have failed to keep up with the true cost of aging for decades. Montana's population is among the oldest in America, and rents in much of the state are increasing much faster than the national average. In the last year, more than 10% of the state's nursing homes have closed. There are efforts to keep Montana's seniors in their homes, but there's broad agreement here that the real long-term solution is building more housing, specifically apartment buildings.

GREG GIANFORTE: When you put more units in a smaller space, costs go down, and units become more affordable⁹. It's no more complicated than that.

BOLTON: That's Montana's Republican governor, Greg Gianforte. He recently convened¹⁰ a task force on the housing crisis and thinks if government regulation is reduced, the free market will generate enough new housing. Advocates for homeless people, like Sean O'Neil, say the free market alone won't provide affordable housing. He favors state and local subsidies¹¹.

SEAN O'NEIL: Talking and having those conversations is something we need to have. Otherwise, we're going to keep twiddling our thumbs and hoping that trickle-down housing will come to our seniors and fixed-income folks.

BOLTON: In the meantime, the number of seniors scrambling¹² to find housing, like Kim Hilton and Lisa Beaty, continues to grow.

HILTON: I guess I'm ready there, dearie.

BOLTON: Leaving the apartment they've shared for the last seven years, she gives him a hug.

HILTON: You've done...

BEATY: (Crying) Be careful.

HILTON: You've done so much.

BEATY: (Crying) Be careful.

HILTON: I will.

BOLTON: Hilton reassures¹³ her, saying she can help him get settled at an assisted living facility soon. But when that opening will come, no one knows.

(SOUNDBITE OF ENGINE TURNING OVER)

BOLTON: For now, he drives off in search of a place to camp out while he waits for that call.

For NPR News, I'm Aaron Bolton in Columbia Falls, Mont.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

4 evicting   

v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Money spent on evicting sex offenders cannot be spent on treating them. 花在打击性侵犯者上的钱并不能花在治疗这一社会问题上。 来自互联网
• Money spent on evicting sex offenders cannot be spent on treating them. Does this matter? 钱被花费在驱逐性犯罪者而不是用做教育他们，这样做真的好么？ 来自互联网

5 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

6 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。

7 bunk   

n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话

参考例句：

• He left his bunk and went up on deck again.他离开自己的铺位再次走到甲板上。
• Most economists think his theories are sheer bunk.大多数经济学家认为他的理论纯属胡说。

8 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

9 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

10 convened   

召开( convene的过去式 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合

参考例句：

• The chairman convened the committee to put the issue to a vote. 主席召集委员们开会对这个问题进行表决。
• The governor convened his troops to put down the revolt. 总督召集他的部队去镇压叛乱。

11 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 reassures   

v.消除恐惧或疑虑，恢复信心( reassure的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• A significant benefit of Undo is purely psychological: It reassures users. 撤销的一个很大好处纯粹是心理上的，它让用户宽心。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Direct eye contact reassures the person that you are confident and honest. 直接的目光接触让人相信你的自信和诚实。 来自口语例句