NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The high costs of everything from food to housing continue to impact a lot of people, especially seniors living on a fixed income.
Currently in Tennessee, the poverty level for seniors is the highest it's been in over ten years. Many of them are unable to keep up with inflation costs.
According to the National Council on Aging, the poverty rate for people 65 and older rose from almost nine percent in 2020 to more than ten percent in 2021.
Locally, a little over ten percent of people over 65 in Tennessee are living in poverty. In Kentucky, it's almost 12 percent, according to America's Health Rankings.
Some advocates place the blame on the rising cost of food and housing. Seniors in this situation are at their wit's end, some losing their homes altogether and forced to find shelter elsewhere or live on the street.
Others are cutting costs where they can, relying on food boxes and other resources like food stamps to keep costs low.
"The retirement that they had envisioned and they thought that they did have enough money," said homeless advocate Krista Garofalo. "But unfortunately, with the rising cost of, you know, food gas, the affording affordable housing supply being in short, even shrinking even more every single day, it, it's becoming a little bit harder for them to reach that vision that they had for themselves."
Even though seniors got a financial bump in social security benefits, it still isn't enough to help everyone.
