A few decades ago, Leslie McIntire thought she was doing everything right for a comfortable life. She was a tax accountant in Washington, D.C., and co-owned a not-for-profit bookstore. “I had good savings,” she says. “I was quite happy, quite frankly, and I was preparing to go back to school.”

Then a car accident dislocated her hip and jaw, left her psychologically rattled and derailed her career.

McIntire held on in her rent-controlled apartment for a while, even after she was forced to go on disability and started burning through savings. She eventually realized she needed more help, but then had to endure a three-year wait to get into the federally subsidized senior housing where she now lives.

“And by the time I got in here, I was seriously considering going into a shelter,” she says. “I paid my rent, my utilities. I had SNAP benefits for food. And I had $25 left over. And you just can’t live on that in the long run.”

McIntire is 69, part of the baby boomer generation that is entering older age amid a historic affordable housing shortage and rising wealth inequality in the U.S.

  • @LesserAbe
    5•1 year ago

    You’re right, people should absolutely make themselves heard, should vote and also get active. We should make systemic changes that improve everyone’s lives and also disadvantage antisocial/unsustainable forces.

    I think the stats you shared reinforce my point - there are many millions of people who did not vote for Reagan et al., and unlike those comments I mentioned in this thread, we shouldn’t have a knee jerk reaction of, “tough luck boomer, you brought this on yourself.”