HAMILTON COUNTY, Ohio — A growing crowd of senior citizens are desperate to find rentals in Hamilton County. There's so much demand that the Council of Aging of Southwestern Ohio (COA), which does not handle housing, built a database to help seniors help themselves.
The Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati said more seniors in the area are facing eviction. It already turned Barbara and Warren Walls' lives upside down.
"Things change fast," Warren Walls said.
The Marine and his wife of 54 years know how to fight, but the way the 73- and 72-year-olds currently live made Barbara tear up and almost tears Warren down.
"It's horrible," Barbara Walls said. "I wouldn't recommend it for anybody."
"I feel like I let her down," Warren Wells said.
Landlords put the couple out of their Norwood apartment months ago.
"I don't know what we did to deserve this," Barbara Walls said. "We were paying our rent every month."
Then, soaring rents spoiled any move. Every apartment complex they called wanted more than the couple can afford or put them on wait lists.
"You'd think you were renting the Taj Mahal," Barbara Walls said.
"We thought it'd be tough but not seven months tough," said Amy Walls, the couple's daughter. "They've been homeless a month now."
Relatives spent $80 a night on a motel room for the Walls. Though, after three weeks, the couple's patience and their family's money ran short.
"I wish I could live with (my wife)," Warren Walls said.
Now the couple is homeless. Relatives took them in but the only space available left Barbara in her daughter's apartment in Reading while Warren lives with their grandson 26 miles away in Middletown.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to live like this forever and never see my husband again," Barbara Walls said. "I want to have a home again. I don't want to live like this forever. I can't do it."
More than 5,000 homeless people are sheltered with loved ones, according to Strategies to End Homelessness data. Almost one in five were over 55 years old.
COA is getting lots of calls for help and, since the agency does not find homes for seniors, staff sends people to a searchable online database of housing options.
More often than not, though, seniors find resources already spent on others.
"I've called every organization in Cincinnati," Amy Walls said. "Red Cross wouldn't even help. They said it's gotta be a national disaster. This is a national disaster when anybody in America (doesn't) have a place to rest their head and they worked their whole life to do it."
The Walls have a $1,500 rental but want to connect with a landlord willing to rent them a two-bedroom apartment at a price they can afford.
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