Capital & Main: Surviving on $1,800 a Month in Social Security, She Died Looking for a Place to Live

[Dennis Donovan]

Capital & Main - Surviving on $1,800 a Month in Social Security, She Died Looking for a Place to Live

Joanne Erickson’s story shows the looming challenges for millions of seniors struggling with health issues, an unforgiving housing market and little or no retirement savings.

By Jessica Goodheart
Photos by Barbara Davidson
Published December 23, 2024


Joanne Erickson

When I first met her, Joanne Marie Erickson had not left her apartment in weeks and she was just days away from being evicted from her home of 23 years. She sat on a tattered couch, while her cat Muriel wandered around her cluttered living room. She was alone, overwhelmed. “I think I’m falling apart,” she said.

I had hoped, naively it turns out, that my reporting would be enough to help her get the assistance she needed and find stable housing. But long waitlists, leads that went nowhere and promises of help that went unfilled continually frustrated her efforts.

She was evicted in February and died in May, while homeless, just days short of her 71st birthday. Erickson’s tragic end — homeless despite a lifetime spent caring for others — illustrates the urgent and complex challenge of providing support for aging Americans, many of whom will outlive their savings. For the millions relying solely on Social Security, a modest benefit at best, survival in high-cost cities like Los Angeles can be untenable. Layer on the inevitable decline of the body and, for some, the mind, and the prospect for many older Americans grows even grimmer.

/snip/

Erickson’s death highlights a deepening crisis for aging Americans who lack a safety net. In California, people over 55 are the fastest-growing group of unhoused individuals, with two million seniors struggling to afford housing, health care and other basic needs, with millions more nationwide. The problem is especially severe in high-cost metro areas in the West and Northeast, including Seattle, Denver and Boston, as well as in New York and Los Angeles. Yet even in historically more affordable cities in the South and Midwest, such as Dallas, Houston, and Minneapolis-St. Paul, housing costs now outpace what many seniors can afford. And the scale of these problems will almost certainly increase; the number of older adults in the United States is projected to grow from roughly 54 million in 2019 to over 94 million in 2060.

Without a greater investment in solutions that enable Americans to age with dignity in their communities, the challenges facing the aging population will only deepen, said Patti Prunhuber, director of housing advocacy at Justice in Aging, an anti-poverty organization. “Inaction will result in a growing number of older adults facing housing instability and homelessness,” she warned.

/snip

Rest in peace, Joanne.

[yardwork]

1. THIS needs to be the laser-focus of the Democratic Party.

RIP, Ms. Erickson. The wealthiest nation on Earth can and must do better.

[SheltieLover]

2. Absolutely!

[XanaDUer2]

3. Poor cat too

Disgusting

[Orrex]

53. Won't happen. The party is looking to make inroads with younger voters

Which is why AOL got brushed aside.

Wait what?

[getagrip_already]

54. Some people get brushed aside because of who they are...

Not how old they are.

And deservedly so.

Just making a comment to the stars, not about a specific person.

[Orrex]

57. I hear you and I agree (nt)

[mdbl]

71. Probably true

Until they get old too. By then it will be too late.

[HereForTheParty]

56. Not Liz Cheney and Oprah Winfrey?

:

[SheltieLover]

4. K&R

Rip

[Liberal In Texas]

5. Since my kids are living on the west coast now I'd love to move there.

But even with the 2 pensions we have and Social Security and some saving left, there is no way we could afford to live there. Zillow estimates we could make maybe $400K on the sale of our present home, but it' wouldn't be nearly enough to buy anything in SoCal or Seattle. And I'm not going to rent ever again. Ever.

[homegirl]

12. There are affordable

possibilities for seniors. Investigate! Senior communities. Two/three B.R. two bath, community facilities-pool, tennis courts under $400 K and HOA $700-$800 month!

[milestogo]

21. Senior communities cost even more than regular rentals.

[Native]

26. an HOA pay't of 800 a month? that's nuts.

[Oppaloopa]

76. That is what we pay for lot rent in florida

[Liberal In Texas]

27. Yeah, I'm not paying that HOA fee or be involved with an HOA ever again.

There is nothing more political than an HOA.

[snot]

35. I assume you don't think that's available in all places?

Certainly, it's not in my area (and I live in one of the supposedly more reasonably-priced urban areas).

Another aspect of the situation that I haven't seen talked about: inflation is decimating many seniors' retirement savings. Unless they stayed in stocks after the 2008 Crash – and after that debacle, many got out, moving their savings into safer but lower-return investment – or put unusually large sums into something even more exotic, like gold or BTC, most seniors have faced the same 20% real inflation rates in necessities such as food, housing, and health care that other generations face, but without benefitting from any increases in wages or more than meagre returns on their investments (the tiny CPI adjustments made to Social Security benefits come nowhere near covering the actual increased in costs for the things most seniors need most).

[Solly Mack]

6. ...

This shouldn't happen.

[OldBaldy1701E]

68. Well...

We could stop making a green piece of paper more important than people...

BBWWAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

(Sorry, that just made me laugh out loud. Because that ain't never gonna happen...)

[Solly Mack]

77. Nope. Never going to happen. People will continue to die because profits matter and people don't.

[onecaliberal]

7. And the child rapist is coming for more. Because fuck off poor.

This is what millions voted for.

[pfitz59]

8. 'Private equity' is destroying the nation

gobbling up all the housing and land. Turning us into a nation of master and serf. "Just move' the apologists say. How? The cost of relocating is beyond reach in our 'hand-to-mouth' existence. 'Affordable housing' groups are competing with over-funded equity firms and the Musks of the world for the scraps of available land and properties. The lady in the story had income, which should have been enough....

[MotownPgh]

10. Both parties have bent to their will since

Reagan

[happy feet]

72. THIS!

[Ray Bruns]

9. Yea, but my fucking eggs cost 90 cents more than a year ago.

So I’m voting for a billionaire(?) who couldn’t give a damn about me.

[JanMichael]

14. I know...the "it's the eggs" people are as dumb as rocks.

[JI7]

11. We need to seriously do something about housing

It could be more regulations on rentals. And dealing with locals that prevent new housing.

[live love laugh]

13. Unhoused vs. homeless .... What's the difference?

[JanMichael]

15. Stigma management.

[3auld6phart]

16. Damn

That is heartbreaking.. I’m damn sure we have our share of Homeless up here also. May … I am getting wound up ? BP will stroke me … take care all. Bye.

[orangecrush]

17. K&R

[Bengus81]

18. Hell...pretty soon it will be trying it on $0.00 per month when SS is gone

Don't think for a second it's all Trump and Eloon bluster either. Those fuckers are dead serious. The ACA will be targeted first IMO. It's laughable when they say "cuts". Those cuts will be enough to have social security and medicare implode within a year or so of them happening.

Those are billions and billions of $$$$ those fuckers can pocket in the way of another massive tax cut letting them and their Corporate buddies pay literately nothing in taxes.

People had all the warning they needed and could have stopped this shit dead in it's tracks on November 5th.

[valleyrogue]

44. It isn't going anywhere, so please stop the fearmongering. n/t

[GoodRaisin]

47. Expect ACA subsidies to be severely cut to where the Exchange will no longer be affordable for

many older people buying insurance on the Health Care Exchange.

For an idea of what this means,

I had to retire early for health reasons at age 61 and had to go on the Health Care Exchange for insurance. It was during the Obama administration and at the time I received a monthly health care subsidy that covered all but $17/month of the ~ $1400/month premium.

Fast forward to 2017. The same health care plan would had cost me $910/month under the subsidy amounts proposed by the Republicans. (Fortunately I reached Medicare age that year.)

So, from $17/month to $910/month out of pocket increase. I figure that is probably the magnitude increases in monthly premiums that subsidy recipients in the age 60+ will likely be looking at if Republicans can get it included in a reconciliation bill. And that’s if they don’t get rid of the ACA altogether, driving everyone back to private insurance that doesn’t cover pre-existing conditions.

[markie]

19. Harris had a plan...

too bad so many people don't trust women

this problem is real and maybe in 4 years we can address it

[Evolve Dammit]

40. Sadly, some folks don't have four years to wait

[liberalla]

42. I know. We would be heading in a different direction right now if Kamala was steering.

But instead we are on the

[Yavin4]

20. Decades of tax cuts for the rich and corporations led to defunding of much need public investments like housing.

This is the result of multiple rounds of tax cuts for the rich.

[IbogaProject]

22. Newts congress sliped through a housing poison pill

In the 1990s during the Clinton administration it became a rule or law that public housing couldnt be expanded.

[FrankTC]

23. Heartbreaking

The expression on Ms. Erickson's face suggests severe clinical depression -- grim, no way out, endless suffering. Altogether tragic. Seems like she was failed systemically. We've got to do better.

[Frank D. Lincoln]

24. The article in the OP is bleak, but Republican rule will make it much, much worse.

Trump voters, like Trump himself, are demons as far as I'm concerned.

But in fairness, both Democrats and Republicans have failed our seniors.

We need a revolution in this country.

[Native]

25. This is so incredibly sad.

[LudwigPastorius]

28. "...little or no retirement savings."

That's her problem, right there! "Retirement".

We should all just work, work, work until we drop dead on the job! *


* paid for by Republicans for Social Security & Medicare Theft

[maxrandb]

29. 40+ years of "trickle-down" bullshit, with Dems opening a spigot every now and then

won't work.

The press is more concerned with presenting our political choices like it's a season of the Golden Bachelor.

The Kinks were so prescient.

"Well, it's been said before, the world is a stage
A different performance with every age
So open up the history book to any old page
Bring on the lions and open the cage

Give the people what they want
You give the people what they want
The more they get, the more they need
And every time they get harder and harder to please

Well the Roman promoters really did things right
They needed a show that would clearly excite.
The attendance was sparse so they put on a fight
And threw the Christians to the lions, sold out every night

Give the people what they want
Give the people what they want
Blow out your brains and do it right
Make sure it's prime time and on a Saturday night

Give 'em lots of sex, perversion and rape
Give 'em lots of violence and plenty to hate
Give the people what they want
Give the people what they want

When Oswald shot Kennedy, he was insane
But still we watch the re-runs again and again
We all sit glued while the killer takes aim
Hey Mom, there goes a piece of the President's brain

Give the people what they want
You gotta give the people what they want
Blow out your brains and do it right
Make sure it's prime time and on a Saturday night

Gotta give the people what they want
Give the people what they want
Give the people what they want

What they want
What they want
What do you want?"

[Americanme]

30. This death bothers me so much more than the CEO shooting

I know that's not a popular opinion, but it's how I feel. This poor lady suffered. We must take care of our old people. And not by paying government money to billionaires and corporations. I don't have the answer, but something must be done.

[ananda]

31. OK, we know there will be absolutely no government investment....

in serniors.

Period.

[Mountain Mule]

32. This story terrifies me

I live on my small social security check and only a housing voucher stands between me and becoming homeless. President Musk can't wait to completely destroy the tattered remains of the social safety net so that all those deserving billionaires can get their tax cuts. I worry about my poor little fur faces (two kitties and a wonderful hound) should we all end up on the street. I'm trying so hard not to hate my fellow Americans but I continue to despise those who voted for the orange buffoon.

[EarthAbides]

33. My fear...

If immigrants are deported will they make the homeless take those jobs....

[Mike 03]

34. How sad and simply horrific.

It's a disgrace that we have so many people living and dying in poverty, or so stressed out that they may lose their home or apartment, or that some unanticipated emergency could totally destroy their lives.

Eviction is often the domino that, once fallen, topples every other domino.

Anyone who wants to know more about this process and the people it devastates, please read Matthew Desmond's book "Evicted." You won't be able to put it down.

I'm so sorry that we failed you, Joanne. We have no excuses. There are no excuses.

[Joinfortmill]

36. I'm 75. There but for the grace of God..

So sad, and so unnecessary. We can do better than this.

[valleyrogue]

37. $1800 a month SS? Must have been a spouse's or ex's SS survivor benefit.

That is way more than I get ($897 after Medicare and some 41 years in the labor force), and I took it early, plus having the WEP and Medicare taken out. In other words, I will be getting a total of $1086 a month before the deductions (I should get an additional $120 of it back with WEP repeal). That woman's benefit was more than my nephew gets in SS, after taking it at 62 and having retired from Oregon public employment after 35 years. He retired from his public sector job at 59 in 2000. He gets 1700 a month SS, but thank God he has a great Oregon pension. He wouldn't make it otherwise. He earned around $64,000 a year when he retired four years ago.

For women alone, that figure is a LOT of money. That is why it has to be a spousal survivor benefit. It doesn't make sense otherwise.

Tragic she died.

[Elessar Zappa]

49. My mom's benefit is $1970/month and it's hers alone.

But she took it at age 70.

[valleyrogue]

50. It is not common for women who don't earn a spousal benefit to get a worker benefit that high.

Just because your mom got that much doesn't mean it is typical. It is NOT. Neither does waiting until age 70.

You have to understand just how much money over a working career you have to earn to get that much money a month. It isn't the typical wage women earn.

[Elessar Zappa]

51. I'm not saying it's typical, just that's it's possible for the woman in the story.

[valleyrogue]

52. Not very likely. It is most likely a spousal benefit.

I know of a woman who gets $2300 a month in SS, which is way more than my nephew gets, certainly more than I get for working my ass off all my life, and no way did she wait until she was 70 to get it.

She was married and divorced. Divorced women can get a survivor benefit if they have been married more than ten years. This is most likely what the woman in the story got or else widow's benefits. Men on average make substantially more money than women do even now despite all the blather about "glamorous" (read male-dominated) fields women are allegedly going into in great numbers. Men tend to be overpaid because of the concept of the "family wage," which still exists and is key to understanding why women are systematically underpaid. Very, very few women in my generation of the baby boom never married, fewer than 10 percent, and never-married women are the poorest in old age.

Ten cents says she got the benefit through a man.

[MissB]

58. My mom gets about that much ($2300?)

My parents divorced in about 1982 after almost 20 years of marriage.

Both remarried. Dad remained married to my stepmom until he died.

Mom divorced and then remarried again, losing her 3rd husband to Covid in 2021-ish.

When her 3rd husband died, she became eligible for my dad’s social security benefit rate, or some portion of it or however that works.

She went from like $600 to $2300. Amazing.

[Random Boomer]

65. That paints a very bleak picture

As a boomer woman who never married, my SS income is significantly above the figures you've been citing. I worked until age 69, and those last few years really make a difference toward higher payments.

I never saw my situation as that much out of the ordinary, but apparently I am exceedingly more fortunate than I realized.

[WarGamer]

38. 1800 isn't even bad...

Lots of people live on 1000-1200 in SS.

I tell ALL younger people... have your housing needs straightened out FAR before your 60's...

You CAN NOT go into retirement without owned housing.

Even if it's a cardboard box on a half acre from your Uncle...

[LisaL]

43. Yea, but she was in California.

Where rent is very high. Her rent was about what she was getting in social security. So it would have left her with nothing after paying the rent.

[WarGamer]

45. It's terrible...

IMHO, housing is the most fundamental right...

Gov't housing might not be the fanciest... but it should exist, it should be safe and convenient and AVAILABLE

BIG PET PEEVE of mine.

GI's didn't go overseas and die in the sand.mud/dirt face down for a country to allow it's old folks to decay.

So a developer wants to build 350 big 3000sf $1M houses in fancy tracts?

Good... tell them to build 700 little 600sf homes at "wholesale" in tracts next to the million dollar homes.

Or no zoning and approvals.

[LisaL]

46. At least there should be more affordable housing for

elderly and disabled.
Clearly in California, benefits for many elderly and disabled don't even cover the rent in regular housing.

[WarGamer]

48. Here's the problem AND the solution.

In WW2 the US Gov't designed cheap, fast, easy to build cargo ships called Liberty ships.

You see... a small house can be optimized for low price. Take into account the length of wall panels and what lumber is the best values... maybe 12' or 16' wall panels...

Standardize the parts of "Liberty Homes" and don't contract them out to "for profit" contractors.

And when you DO buy parts from the market... buy in bulk. Buy 100,000 Kohler sinks and toilets.

I bet... they could build a 24' x 36' home with a composite or metal roof, HVAC, good insulation and a 5kWH solar system for $10-12k

Need land right?

Again, use State or Fed owned land... or BUY land when convenient and build... change zoning requirements...

Use leverage against for profit home builders.

Look at Austin TX... surrounded by high income communities with fancy malls and restaurants...

Why can't subdivisions of LIberty Homes be next to the fancy $3M communities? To enjoy their malls, parks and such things?

This problem can be solved BUT politicians aren't motivated.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

39. She died homeless so that more mansions can be built for those who have no need.

According to the oligarchs now in charge, our value drops to zero when we are no longer producing wealth for them.

[Meowmee]

41. Unforgivable that this is happening here

🕯️😿🤬

[Blue Owl]

55. K&R for visibility

Meanwhile, some rich billionaire fuck is buying a third yacht in the midst of this suffering....

And 70 million stupid motherfuckers voted in approval...

[totodeinhere]

59. This was such a tragedy, and a lot of people get even less than that.

I know someone who nets $995 per month from Social Security. Try living on that even in parts of the country where the cost of living is lower than on the two coasts.

[Arazi]

60. K&R

😩

[IcyPeas]

61. Healthcare, housing etc. Corporations own everything.

Corporate landlords are buying up all the apartment buildings. It's all about profit and keeping the shareholders happy.

People are being priced-out. It's all price gauging. Never mind price gauging on eggs and toothpaste, they do it with healthcare and housing too. Gotta pay our corporate overlords.

Can this ever be undone?

I always think of The Beatles song Taxman:

Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you, nineteen for me
'Cause I'm the taxman
Yeah, I'm the taxman

Should five percent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
'Cause I'm the taxman
Yeah, I'm the taxman

I'll tax the street
(If you try to sit, sit) I'll tax your seat
(If you get too cold, cold) I'll tax the heat
(If you take a walk, walk) I'll tax your feet

'Cause I'm the taxman
Yeah, I'm the taxman

[SunSeeker]

62. My brother is living off $633/month in Social Security. And yes, he's a Trumper.

[Oppaloopa]

66. I live in florida on 1200 per month

I am soglad I have a wonderful son who helps me

[SarcasticSatyr]

67. If it weren't for my brother I would be homeless now . . .

I have considered suicide has a possible future solution.

[2naSalit]

69. Sad...

But $1800 is twice my SS monthly payment. Living on that is not easy. Having been homeless at the beginning of my retirement, I can relate entirely. I also have tried to survive, as a working class hero, in southern California and I bailed every time due to unacceptable cost of living.

And it's only going to get worse.

[PennRalphie]

70. So very tragic.

Don’t expect trump to do anything about this.

Have to ask why this wasn’t a focus of President Biden. Instead of canceling student debt that SOMETIMES went to people who could afford to repay but didn’t want to.

Elderly people struggle. Democrats need to start telling them how Democrats will help.

[Number9Dream]

73. Now a ridiculously low 2.5% COLA

That's gone from Medicare and supplement increases.

[dalton99a]

74. Kick

[valleyrogue]

75. Average benefits according to this article:

Though amounts and maximum benefits received vary widely, the estimated average a retired worker receives is about $1,920 a month, whereas the average for all recipients is closer to $1,784.

link

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/average-social-security-check-men-112913763.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACJpDIcTL0mhgxmsWdnGOt0odnJ0XrFLICXMl4M-iVyVuB6bQ7DZsTkZa4y9kuGQswnDlk5U93Z8hEClmm5C5qBov5l82ge2nJaErYllCQZYgcPrL4hfefX85uGh02hH7LmmeSIYnn79-oORS360GwAeC34Zh2phEbSBvNWiYlaV


It mentions the historic discrepancies in pay between men and women, but what it leaves out is that all-important survivor benefits, where a widow or divorced woman married at least 10 years can get the spouse's or ex-spouse's entire Social Security benefit. Where there is the "dual entitlement" of worker benefits and survivor benefits, SS pays the higher benefit. This is a huge benefit for women who have been widowed or married a substantial number of years. This is a big reason why never-married women fare poorly in old age; they didn't have a man to live off of or serve as a economic buffer. Never-married women shouldn't HAVE to do this in order to survive.

This is also the reason there isn't an even bigger gap in SS benefits between men and women.

ETA: It does mention survivor benefits of $1509 as average. What this unfortunate woman got was more than the average widow/divorced woman and slightly less than the average worker, which includes men. Not saying it is right what happened to her, but 1800 a month is pretty large for an SS benefit.