Housing Insecurity in Older Adults with Sarah Canham, PhD

Listen to the podcast here.

Dr. Sarah Canham is an Associate Professor in Social Work and City & Metropolitan Planning at the U of U.

She is a fellow with the Gerontological Society of America and an international advocate for housing justice for older adults. In this podcast, she discusses her surprising research on the rise of housing insecurity for older Americans.

In this podcast Dr. Sarah Canham speaks with Dean Keith Diaz Moore on seniors homelessness across North America. Homelessness amongst older adults is an issue that is largely overlooked by society and policy, as such, Dr. Canham uses this space to discuss the scope, nature, and trajectory of this issue within today’s context. Further, Dr. Canham identifies the diverse makeup of “homelessness,” by detailing the non-traditional ways that older adults may face housing insecurity. Listen to hear more about the intersection of risk for homelessness among older adults including the acceleration of biological age due to social inequities, the upstream and downstream effects of housing policy, and the adverse effects of sleep deprivation on social functioning. Looking forward, Dr. Canham discusses the need for trauma-informed medical respite, the decriminalization of homelessness, and the establishment of formal social supports for older adults with lived and living experiences of homelessness.