NAPLES, Fla. — Nancy Lee Kelly shows off the room key she keeps attached to her belt.
It’s become her lifeline after life changed forever last December.
The 70-year-old Naples resident had been living in an RV that caught fire.
“I looked at the RV burning up and I said, ‘she’s gone. That’s it,’” Kelly said.
Without a family here locally, Kelly was left with nowhere else to turn.
She soon moved into the Campbell Lodge; a shelter run by the St. Matthew’s House.
As soon as she arrived, she realized she wasn’t the only senior citizen experiencing homelessness.
“It’s horrifying what you see,” said Kelly.
A recent survey found 1/4th of all homeless people in Collier County were senior citizens.
At the two shelters run by St. Matthew’s House in Collier County, more than 20% of its residents are ages 60 and older.
“You’re literally looking at folks who could be in their mid 60s to, in the last six months, we’ve had ladies in here who are in their 90s,” said Ray Steadman, VP of Programs for St. Matthew’s House.
Steadman says the demographics of the homeless population in Collier County has changed drastically in the last decade.
There are more single mothers and senior citizens than ever before.
Steadman says there are several compounding factors which have led to the rise in homelessness, including the lack of affordable housing and rising inflation.
“It is extremely heartbreaking and gut wrenching because there are not a lot of options for those folks for affordable housing,” said Steadman.
Despite it all, Nancy remains positive.
She works three days a week at a local restaurant.
She hopes to eventually move out of the shelter, likely in a shared unit with other elderly residents.
“This has been going on for way too long,” said Kelly. “This didn’t just come up out of the rug. It’s been hidden under the rug for a long time.”
