Reply #10: This is an excellent idea! I will make one for the CA forum

[EFerrari]

or, start one, anyway, using your model! Has to wait for Saturday though.

I woke up to this story this morning:

S.F.'S HOMELESS AGING ON THE STREET
Chronic health problems on the rise as median age nears 50

Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, August 4, 2006

A majority of the homeless people on San Francisco's streets have been there since the 1980s and never left, and without concentrated care they soon will start crowding hospital emergency rooms and dying in large numbers, according to a 14-year-long, first-of-its-kind examination of chronic homelessness in the United States.

The finding -- which the researchers say is reflected in other cities -- is sure to give added impetus to initiatives in San Francisco and elsewhere to create more programs that combine permanent housing and social services for residents under the same roof.

Without such supportive housing programs, the aging homeless are likely to experience rapid health decline and death, said Judy Hahn, the UCSF assistant professor who led the study.

"The already-troubling health issues for these older street people are not going to go away. They will just get worse, and we will see them in increasing numbers in our hospitals," Hahn said. "If they don't go into the hospitals, many will simply die from living outside. Giving them a residence with on-site health care available will go a long way toward avoiding these troubles."

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/08/04/MNGILKB9KV1.DTL