Detroit entered a new year with the same winter math: fixed incomes that don’t stretch, heat that costs more than many seniors can safely afford and food in their homes that runs out before the month does. For older adults, particularly older women, who are living alone, one delayed benefit, one utility notice or one missed ride can turn a hard week into a crisis — quietly, behind a closed door, without the public naming it as an emergency.
“You feel sad because you don’t want your parents to go through that lonely moment, a cold moment, a hunger moment,” said Joanne Crawley, a retiree who sees these crises unfolding every week through her volunteer work. “And it’s like, what can I do moving forward to help them?”
Older women are more likely to be on their own in late life, and that changes what winter looks like when money, mobility or family support runs thin. The Administration for Community Living,a federal agency that funds and coordinates services so older adults and people with disabilities can live independently in their communities, estimates that in 2023, 33 percent of older women living outside institutional settings lived alone, compared with 22 percent of older men. ACL also reported that 29 percent of older women are widows…