In 2010, 6 years after the city of New York launched its 5-year plan to end homelessness, there were more homeless people in the city than ever before. An increasing number of these homeless people were older adults. Peter's Place, a drop-in center dedicated to serving homeless older adults, was closed, and its population scattered among the remaining drop-in centers and shelters. Faced with severe budget cuts, the city terminated its contracts to provide medical services in shelters. shelter population has suffered disproportionately from austerity measures. Homeless older adults are faced with the same problems as their younger counterparts, but their travails are compounded by physical frailties and vulnerability to predators. Housing options are limited, and their expectations for the future bleak. There is a movement in the United States to keep older adults in their homes rather than placing them in nursing homes. However, what would people do if they have no homes? Four case studies are presented about homeless older adults in New York City to illustrate the complexity of their situations. Names and details have been changed to protect the identities of those involved. CASE A: DENNIS I met Dennis in 2006, while working as a nurse practitioner at a clinic in the shelter where he was brought by the street Outreach team. He had spent 10 years on the steps of a church in midtown Manhattan. All previous attempts to locate him in a shelter had failed. He is now in a small shelter, dedicated to serving people with persistent mental illness. He had numerous medical problems, which were addressed in the shelter's clinic. shelter also provided a psychiatrist a few days a week and and a nurse on call for 16 hours a day. Within a week, Dennis was medically stable, taking medication, and settling down in the shelter. I was born in New York City in 1924 to an affectionate family. My father played the violin beautifully. He came from Russia in 1917 during the revolution. On weekends, he would play at a Russian place on 2nd Avenue. He was 32 when he died. He punctured his finger and within 5 days, he was dead of poisoning. I was 5. We moved in with grandma for 9 years. She loved everyone, and everyone loved her. My mother was 23 when my father died. I had a sister, Rosie, a year and a half older than me. She died in 1987. We were like twins. We moved up to Washington Heights. Nothing lasts for long. Then we moved to Manhattan. When I was 4 years old, I won a national contest for beauty and talent. In the finals, they lined up about 20 of us. I'll never forget those lights; boy, they were hot. You couldn't see a thing. And the noise, with people clapping and cheering-it scared the heck out of me. I took a bow; my head almost touched the stage. Real dramatic. I was in The Old Gang Comedy for about a year. Later it was called The Little Rascals. I was the original Weezer. It was done in a studio in New Jersey. In 1929, it moved to Hollywood. We didn't go along. I was drafted into the army at 18. I went to summer camp when I was a little boy so the whole army routine was not unusual; nor difficult to be away from home. First, I was a quartermaster, up till that time they were drafting people 21-42 years old. In 1943, they started drafting from 18-38. D-day came. We got orders to ship overseas. Three days after my 20th birthday, we set sail from Staten Island. There was a submarine out there. I landed in Scotland and came to Stonehenge in South England, then set sail for France- from Utah Beach to the gates of Berlin. By that time, I was a tank gunner. I wasn't stationed anywhere, just moving around. After the war, I went to school, became an architect. I never took the licensing exam so I worked as a draftsman for 30 years in New York, Westchester County, and New Hampshire. That's where I met my last wife. I was invited to do the city hall for the town of Laconia. After the birth of my son Steven, she took off with him and my other son, Jeffrey. …