The Problem

There is a stealthy yet accelerating problem in our public mental health care safety net for the homeless geriatric population. These individuals spend time under bridges and tent cities with a poor chance of EVER breaking this cycle due to the intrinsic limitations of our mental health care systems.

This invisible (quickly becoming not so invisible) problem, prevalent across streets
in California is Geropsychiatric (relating to mentally ill seniors) Homelessness. In
2019, the homeless population in California was 162,000 and in Sacramento
County specifically, it was estimated to be between 10,000 and 11,000 individuals. In
2022, that Sacramento County statistic as much as doubled, with the estimate now
falling between 16,500 and 20,000 people. Advocates believe the homeless
population in California could easily be around 250,000 after taking into account the
many undercounted homeless geropsychiatric seniors living in rural areas in the
northern part of the state.

Why is this OUR problem?

The homeless geropsychiatric population is flooding our emergency rooms and coming in for physical crises as a result of neglected routine diabetic care/high blood pressure/physical deterioration. This neglect is causing the medical structure to get inundated and accelerate all healthcare costs. We are bothered when seeing the homeless and are relieved after passing their tent cities. Instead of acting on this unsettling issue, we are letting the homeless population in the US skyrocket. However, in Northern California, there is a synergistic and innovative approach that ORCA will pursue to support the Northern California Homeless and Geropsych disabled populations.

The Problem

Why is this OUR problem?

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