The Medically Weak Folks (MVP) shelter in Sandy, Utah, is a reworked two-story brick resort. It serves folks ages 62 and older, in addition to folks with well being situations that make it arduous to dwell in a typical homeless shelter.
Aaron Bolton/Montana Public Radio
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Aaron Bolton/Montana Public Radio
Simply outdoors Salt Lake Metropolis, in Sandy, Utah, there’s an outdated, two-story brick resort — now given new life as a homeless shelter for older adults.
The Medically Weak Folks shelter, or MVP shelter for brief, is for folks ages 62 and older. However it additionally serves youthful adults who’ve continual well being points.
As a substitute of sleeping in a big, shared area with a number of beds or bunks, the MVP shelter has semiprivate rooms designed to accommodate wheelchairs or different mobility wants. Every small room has its personal toilet, permitting dignity and privateness for older adults who battle with incontinence.
Not like the MVP shelter, most homeless shelters aren’t geared up to assist older folks, particularly these 65 and above. They’re the fastest-growing homeless inhabitants nationwide, in accordance with Dennis Culhane, a researcher on the College of Pennsylvania. Not solely are individuals who battle with continual homelessness growing old, however many older adults have gotten homeless for the primary time of their lives.
Getting out and in of bunks, managing medicines and making it to a shared toilet in time are among the many main challenges of shelter life for older folks. Workers at conventional shelters typically ask older adults to go away in the event that they’re unable to take care of themselves.
The MVP shelter is uncommon as a result of it gives on-site medical care to raised serve its residents as they age.
When Jamie Mangum tripped and fell in her room on the MVP shelter, she did not need to go far for assist. Mangum, who’s in her 50s and has lung most cancers, wanted solely to make it downstairs, the place she noticed an emergency medical technician within the clinic. Her swollen wrist was shortly wrapped, and he or she returned to her room. She stated that this would not have been attainable at different shelters she has stayed in.
“There, I would have to attend hours versus are available in right here — be seen,” Mangum stated.
On-site emergency medical technician Emily Woolsey wraps the swollen wrist of MVP shelter resident Jamie Mangum after a fall. Mangum says that in different shelters, she would doubtless have needed to discover her personal solution to an pressing care workplace to get remedy. She credit the shelter for serving to her take care of all her medical points.
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Aaron Bolton/Montana Public Radio
In different shelters, Mangum stated, she would in all probability have needed to discover her personal solution to an pressing care workplace or get an ambulance trip. On the MVP shelter, specialised case managers have additionally helped her prepare remedy for her lung most cancers.
The shelter can deal with purchasers with complicated medical wants. “We now have purchasers that want reminiscence care. Possibly they have been residing independently earlier than, however they have been unable to keep up that and received evicted attributable to dementia or various things like that,” stated Baleigh Dellos, who manages the MVP shelter for The Street Dwelling, an area nonprofit.
Quick care and help are offered by EMTs and the specialised medical case managers, however main care medical doctors and therapists go to weekly. Residents may even obtain bodily remedy in personal areas on-site.
A path to raised well being, and stability
The MVP shelter companions with the Fourth Road Clinic in Salt Lake Metropolis to supply medical care on-site.
The very first thing most new residents need assistance with is treatment, in accordance with Matt Haroldsen, with the Fourth Road Clinic.
When individuals are residing on the streets, common medicines could be misplaced or stolen. “Their medicines get jacked after they’re of their camps,” Haroldsen stated.
Diabetes sufferers who’re homeless typically bury their insulin to maintain it chilly. However they could overlook the place they buried it, or the vials can get too heat and spoil, he added.
Serving to MVP shelter residents get and keep their medicines can stabilize their well being situations, Haroldsen defined. That permits them to show their focus to different priorities, comparable to getting an ID or different paperwork they should apply for incapacity, Social Safety and varied assist applications that may ultimately assist them safe extra everlasting housing.
Nonprofits and native governments have opened comparable shelters in Florida, California and Arizona to fulfill the wants of older homeless adults.
Getting access to specialised shelters could be the distinction between life and dying, stated Caitlin Synovec, assistant director of the Nationwide Well being Look after the Homeless Council.
In cold-weather states, denying older folks a mattress due to mobility and different well being points could be particularly dangerous. In 2022, an older grownup in Bozeman, Mont., froze to dying after he was requested to go away a shelter due to incontinence.
Complicated medical wants can pose a hazard to different residents that almost all shelters aren’t ready to handle.
“A typical shelter does not enable someone on oxygen to come back in as a result of that is such a hearth hazard and danger,” she stated.
Giving older adults higher entry to well being care inside shelters is one of the best ways to assist them succeed as soon as they do get entry to extra everlasting housing, Synovec stated. That is as a result of well being points are a standard cause older folks cannot afford or keep housing, she stated.
Senior-focused shelters popping up in different states
The MVP shelter mannequin is exhibiting promise, each in Utah and elsewhere.
“Over 80% of the individuals who’ve stayed in our program this previous yr have moved into steady or everlasting housing,” stated Jacob Torner, vp of applications for the TaskForce for Ending Homelessness in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The nonprofit runs a shelter known as Elder Haven.
Jeff Gregg performs fetch together with his canine, Ruffy, outdoors the MVP Shelter in Sandy, Utah. He says the specialised medical companies helped him cease utilizing opioids and get surgical procedure for continual again ache. He hopes that this can enable him to get a job and afford an house.
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Aaron Bolton/Montana Public Radio
The MVP shelter close to Salt Lake Metropolis can also be marking success. It was in a position to completely home 36 older adults within the first 11 months of 2025.
Nonetheless, extra older individuals are in want of shelter than it could actually accommodate. Dellos, the shelter’s supervisor, stated the waitlist hovers round 200 folks. The shelter prioritizes folks primarily based on medical want, she stated, not time spent on the waitlist.
A spot to reset and get well
For residents who do get a room, the chance could be life-changing.
Exterior the shelter, 62-year-old Jeff Gregg was taking part in fetch together with his canine, Ruffy.
Due to an outdated again harm, Gregg stayed hunched over as he threw the ball. The harm additionally fueled a decades-long dependancy to opioids, he stated, making a cycle that was arduous to flee.
“Combating that, having a job, insurance coverage, then shedding the job, not having insurance coverage, going out to the streets and being again in that crap, and I would be again in the identical place,” he stated.
Gregg stated sobriety took a again seat to his extra rapid wants, comparable to discovering meals and a mattress in a shelter. For him, the shelter grew to become the primary place the place he may loosen up and give attention to restoration.
“I used to be in a position to get clear. It took me a pair months, however I simply saved plucking away,” he stated.
He stated the expertise paved the way in which for him to get again surgical procedure. He hopes that with much less again ache, he can ultimately get a job that may assist him pay for an house.
This story comes from NPR’s well being reporting partnership with Montana Public Radio and KFF Well being Information.
