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California’s Aging Homeless Crisis Is Dire — Our Government and Leaders Must Act
Governor Newsom speaking at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. Photo Credit: Office of Governor Gavin Newsom.
More than 85,000 Californians over the age of 50 are homeless on any given night.
Nearly half of single homeless adults are aged 50 or older, and that percentage is increasing, with seniors now the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population.
An analysis of older adult homelessness just published by the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative reveals that over 40% of homeless seniors first became homeless after the age of 50. For most of these individuals, the pathway to homelessness was very different than for those who first experienced homelessness at a younger age.
Many times, there was a catastrophic precipitating event, such as illness, disability, or death of a family member with whom they shared housing. The resulting loss or reduction of income left them unable to pay rent.
With very limited incomes and a woefully insufficient supply of low-income senior housing, they found themselves among the thousands of Los Angeles’ vulnerable elders struggling to stay housed.
At Jewish Family Service LA (JFSLA), with an array of services touching thousands of seniors across Los Angeles, we hear these heartbreaking stories every day. Thankfully, an innovative program called Home Safe has been helping to prevent many seniors and dependent adults in similar situations from becoming homeless.
Home Safe, funded by the State and administered by Los Angeles County in partnership with community nonprofits like JFSLA, has literally saved thousands of lives over the past five years.
Lenora is one such individual. Her downward spiral began with the development of severe, chronic medical conditions. She is barely able to walk and is unable to adequately care for herself. She lost her job. She is isolated, without a support network of family or close friends. Her apartment is classified by the city as “uninhabitable” and she has accrued significant rental arrears.
Through the interventions of JFSLA’s staff with the Home Safe Program, we have been able to stabilize Lenora’s situation and are on track to help her relocate to a safe and habitable housing unit.
Lenora was alone, in a terrible, precarious situation. Thanks to Home Safe, she is no longer facing these challenges on her own.
But Lenora’s story may not be the case for many others. Additional funding for the Home Safe Program is not included in Governor Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal currently being debated in Sacramento.
Without future funding, the program will sunset over the next 12 months, leaving thousands of older and dependent adults without this lifeline.
I shudder to think of what would happen to Lenora without the Home Safe Program. And to William, Miriam, Anthony, Leandra, and the other individuals that JFSLA currently serves through the Home Safe Program.
There is an ancient Jewish teaching: Whoever saves a single life is considered to have saved the entire world. The Home Safe Program is saving lives every day. It needs to stay fully funded.
All of our elders deserve to live in dignity and safety. We can, and must, do better.
Eli Veitzer is the President and CEO of Jewish Family Service LA.
The post California’s Aging Homeless Crisis Is Dire — Our Government and Leaders Must Act first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.