Experiencing Homelessness as an Elder
Experiencing Homelessness as an Elder in Minnesota
Lee is a classic Minnesotan — he has lived his whole life in White Bear Lake and his ideal vacation includes fishing and sleeping under the stars in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
But Lee’s life has been challenging for as long as he can remember. Lee lost his father unexpectedly in high school and had to drop out to help pay rent. Lee spent most of his adult life supporting his mother, and making ends meet was never easy.
When Lee started a new career as a trailer mechanic, he was hopeful that it would improve their situation. But one day, Lee slipped at work and severely damaged his knee. Lee needed knee surgery and couldn’t return to work for a while. During Lee’s recovery, he was rear ended on the way to one of his medical appointments. The accident nearly killed him. “I got hit at about fifty miles per hour,” Lee stated, “and it permanently messed up my neck and back.”
Trying to Save Their Home
Lee’s mother fell ill shortly thereafter in 2011. Lee was still unable to work and suddenly found himself responsible for his mother’s caretaking. “I was the only one who could take care of my mom, and we were already struggling just to keep a roof over our heads,” he said.
Lee eventually found sporadic work and accomplished his goal of keeping his mother in their home until she passed away in 2019, but at a serious cost to his own health. During those 8 years, Lee’s back and neck problems worsened, leaving him with mobility issues and chronic pain. Minnesota’s COVID-19 rent relief program allowed Lee to maintain his housing during the pandemic, but when assistance ran out in the summer of 2022, he ended up being evicted — two months after his 50th birthday.
Nowhere to Turn
Without anywhere to go or family to turn to, Lee began sleeping in the woods near his neighborhood.
“I couldn’t move around very well and sleeping on the ground with chronic pain is like torture,” Lee explained. “But I wanted to stay in the community I’d been in my whole life.”
Lee had a daily routine of going to the public library in White Bear to charge his phone and rest before returning to the woods to sleep. But one night a nasty storm blew through town and destroyed Lee’s camping setup. He was forced to abandon his belongings and call an ambulance for himself that night.
“I’ve got my eye on an apartment that’s only a block away from where my mom is buried in White Bear Lake,” Lee said. “It would be a perfect fit for me — I can’t wait to get back home.”
Resetting at Dorothy Day Place
Upon his release from the hospital, Lee was brought to the Dorothy Day Place campus. “I don’t know if someone was smiling down on me or what, but I was fortunate to get a shelter bed right away,” Lee remembered.
After six weeks in the overnight shelter, Lee moved into Focus Forward, a Catholic Charities program that offers intensive case management to help connect people with housing as quickly as possible. The programs serve people of many different circumstances, including elders experiencing homelessness in Minnesota. Lee described how the resource coordinator at Dorothy Day place made a difference for him: “She was like a godsend. She was kind to me right away, got me started with my paperwork, and even advocated for me when my eligibility for benefits was unclear.”
Now, Lee is in better health and is doing everything in his power to secure housing and work.
“I’ve got my eye on an apartment that’s only a block away from where my mom is buried in White Bear Lake,” Lee said. “It would be a perfect fit for me — I can’t wait to get back home.”
