Next week, a filmmaker hopes to introduce Salem to Bronwyn, Herbert and Jerry.  They’re three seniors in Portland experiencing housing instability and homelessness whose stories will be centered in community film screenings next week.The film, “No Place to Grow Old,” focuses on the fastest-growing demographic of people becoming homeless: those 55 and older.“We realized that that was a story that hadn’t been told yet,” said Michael Larson, the executive director of Portland-based organization Humans for Housing, which seeks to tell stories from homeless Oregonians. This film is the group’s first project.The group is partnering with homeless service provider Church at the Park to put on free screenings in Salem. There are two at Chemeketa Community College on Wednesday, Nov. 13. One is at 9 a.m. with coffee and pastries included, and another at noon will include a small lunch. It will be in the building 6 auditorium, 6 E Campus Loop. Tickets are available online.A Nov. 11 screening at Salem Cinema is sold out.The documentary shares the stories of three Portland seniors, two of whom are homeless. One experiences housing instability as his rent increases further than his income can sustain. It also includes interviews with three state and national experts working in the intersection of aging and housing.“Because we’re in a housing deficit in Oregon and we don’t have enough units for the people that live here, that is what drives up the price and the cost of housing,” Larson said. “When you combine that with also this large baby boomer generation that’s getting older in age, and oftentimes a lot of them are either retired or on a fixed income … they can no longer account for the big rent increases.”DJ Vincent, founding pastor at Church at the Park, said that they were approached by the Department of Human Services about hosting screenings in Salem. He said he hopes the film will help “sound the alarm” to local service providers.“Saying, ‘Hey, if you’re not feeling it already, the strain on our systems around seniors needing care is going to increase. So how are we going to collaborate more on that to meet this need?’” Vincent said.He also hopes the film will help community members better understand why they’re seeing more seniors on Salem streets and in parks. Most of the people living at his organization’s Village of Hope micro shelter site are over age 55, he said. A planned expansion will dedicate 32 beds to that population.  In east Salem, United Way recently opened 10 one-bedroom cottage-style homes for seniors at risk of homelessness. They plan to add 15 more with a second phase of construction. “Even though the filming was done in Portland, the topics are deeply relevant to our Salem community,” Vincent said.  Larson was inspired to found Humans for Housing because of his personal experience growing up in the foster care system. He and his siblings were adopted when he was 12, and he later learned that over a third of youth who age out of the foster care system experience homelessness, according to the federal Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs.He went to serve in shelters while attending Gonzaga University in Spokane, where he made his first short documentary. He said when he formed Humans for Housing and began work on a full documentary, the statistics about older adults becoming homeless kept sticking out.There have been nine community screenings in the region since the movie premiered in September. Larson said that viewers have approached him about how it helped them change their perspectives.“Realizing that, ‘Wow these people have stories. This tent on the side of the road actually has someone in it with a face, and a story,’” Larson said. “It’s been challenging people to not lose the humanity of the people who are living unhoused, even when the issue continues to get worse.”Salem audiences will walk away with a handout from Church at the Park sharing how to sign up for their newsletter, and ways to volunteer and donate items and funding for local efforts.  “No Place to Grow Old” won’t be available to stream until later next year, but any organization, including local groups and faith communities, are welcome to host a screening. There’s an online form to get in touch with Larson’s team about it here. Contact reporter Abbey McDonald: [email protected] or 503-575-1251. A MOMENT MORE, PLEASE– If you found this story useful, consider subscribing to Salem Reporter if you don’t already. Work such as this, done by local professionals, depends on community support from subscribers. Please take a moment and sign up now – easy and secure: SUBSCRIBE. The post Documentary screenings in Salem hope to shed light on senior homelessness crisis appeared first on Salem Reporter.