The Medically Vulnerable People (MVP) shelter in Sandy, Utah, is a remodeled two-story brick hotel. It serves people ages 62 and older, as well as people with health conditions that make it hard to live in a typical homeless shelter.
Aaron Bolton/Montana Public Radio
hide caption
toggle caption
Aaron Bolton/Montana Public Radio
Just outside Salt Lake City, in Sandy, Utah, there’s an old, two-story brick hotel — now given new life as a homeless shelter for older adults.
The Medically Vulnerable People shelter, or MVP shelter for short, is for people ages 62 and older. But it also serves younger adults who have chronic health issues.
Instead of sleeping in a large, shared space with multiple beds or bunks, the MVP shelter has semiprivate rooms designed to accommodate wheelchairs or other mobility needs. Each small room has its own bathroom, allowing dignity and privacy for older adults who struggle with incontinence.
Unlike the MVP shelter, most homeless shelters aren’t equipped to help older people, especially those 65 and above. They are the fastest-growing homeless population nationwide, according to Dennis Culhane, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. Not only are people who struggle with chronic homelessness aging, but many older adults are becoming homeless for the first time in their lives.
Getting in and out of bunks, managing medications and making it to a shared bathroom in time are among the major challenges of shelter life for older people. Staff at traditional shelters sometimes ask older adults to leave if they’re unable to care for themselves.
The MVP shelter is unusual because it provides on-site medical care to better serve its residents as they age.
When Jamie Mangum tripped and fell in her room at the MVP shelter, she didn’t have to go far for help. Mangum, who is in her 50s and has lung cancer, needed only to make it downstairs, where she saw an emergency medical technician in the clinic. Her swollen wrist was quickly wrapped, and she returned to her room. She said that this wouldn’t have been possible at other shelters she has stayed in.
“There, I’d have to wait hours as opposed to come in here — be seen,” Mangum said.
On-site emergency medical technician Emily Woolsey wraps the swollen wrist of MVP shelter resident Jamie Mangum after a fall. Mangum says that in other shelters, she would likely have had to find her own way to an urgent care office to get treatment. She credits the shelter for helping her deal with all her medical issues.
Aaron Bolton/Montana Public Radio
hide caption
toggle caption
Aaron Bolton/Montana Public Radio
In other shelters, Mangum said, she would probably have had to find her own way to an urgent care office or get an ambulance ride. At the MVP shelter, specialized case managers have also helped her arrange treatment for her lung cancer.
The shelter can handle clients with complex medical needs. “We have clients that need memory care. Maybe they were living independently before, but they were unable to maintain that and got evicted due to dementia or different things like that,” said Baleigh Dellos, who manages the MVP shelter for The Road Home, a local nonprofit.
Immediate care and assistance are provided by EMTs and the specialized medical case managers, but primary care doctors and therapists visit weekly. Residents can even receive physical therapy in private spaces on-site.
A path to better health, and stability
The MVP shelter partners with the Fourth Street Clinic in Salt Lake City to offer medical care on-site.
The first thing most new residents need help with is medication, according to Matt Haroldsen, with the Fourth Street Clinic.
When people are living on the streets, regular medications can be lost or stolen. “Their medications get jacked when they’re in their camps,” Haroldsen said.
Diabetes patients who are homeless often bury their insulin to keep it cold. But they might forget where they buried it, or the vials can get too warm and spoil, he added.
Helping MVP shelter residents get and maintain their medications can stabilize their health conditions, Haroldsen explained. That allows them to turn their focus to other priorities, such as getting an ID or other documents they need to apply for disability, Social Security and various support programs that can eventually help them secure more permanent housing.
Nonprofits and local governments have opened similar shelters in Florida, California and Arizona to meet the needs of older homeless adults.
Having access to specialized shelters can be the difference between life and death, said Caitlin Synovec, assistant director of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council.
In cold-weather states, denying older people a bed because of mobility and other health issues can be especially risky. In 2022, an older adult in Bozeman, Mont., froze to death after he was asked to leave a shelter because of incontinence.
Complex medical needs can pose a danger to other residents that most shelters aren’t prepared to manage.
“A typical shelter doesn’t allow somebody on oxygen to come in because that’s such a fire hazard and risk,” she said.
Giving older adults better access to health care inside shelters is the best way to help them succeed once they do get access to more permanent housing, Synovec said. That’s because health issues are a common reason older people can’t afford or maintain housing, she said.
Senior-focused shelters popping up in other states
The MVP shelter model is showing promise, both in Utah and elsewhere.
“Over 80% of the people who’ve stayed in our program this past year have moved into stable or permanent housing,” said Jacob Torner, vice president of programs for the TaskForce for Ending Homelessness in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The nonprofit runs a shelter called Elder Haven.
Jeff Gregg plays fetch with his dog, Ruffy, outside the MVP Shelter in Sandy, Utah. He says the specialized medical services helped him stop using opioids and get surgery for chronic back pain. He hopes that this will allow him to get a job and afford an apartment.
Aaron Bolton/Montana Public Radio
hide caption
toggle caption
Aaron Bolton/Montana Public Radio
The MVP shelter near Salt Lake City is also marking success. It was able to permanently house 36 older adults in the first 11 months of 2025.
Still, more older people are in need of shelter than it can accommodate. Dellos, the shelter’s manager, said the waitlist hovers around 200 people. The shelter prioritizes people based on medical need, she said, not time spent on the waitlist.
A place to reset and recover
For residents who do get a room, the opportunity can be life-changing.
Outside the shelter, 62-year-old Jeff Gregg was playing fetch with his dog, Ruffy.
Because of an old back injury, Gregg stayed hunched over as he threw the ball. The injury also fueled a decades-long addiction to opioids, he said, creating a cycle that was hard to escape.
“Fighting that, having a job, insurance, then losing the job, not having insurance, going out to the streets and being back in that crap, and I’d be back in the same position,” he said.
Gregg said sobriety took a back seat to his more immediate needs, such as finding food and a bed in a shelter. For him, the shelter became the first place where he could relax and focus on recovery.
“I was able to get clean. It took me a couple months, but I just kept plucking away,” he said.
He said the experience paved the way for him to get back surgery. He hopes that with less back pain, he can eventually get a job that will help him pay for an apartment.
This story comes from NPR’s health reporting partnership with Montana Public Radio and KFF Health News.
