
If counted, they would have increased the rate of mental illness by 4.5 percentage points and substance abuse by 9 percentage points. Los Angeles County’s homeless initiatives — along with most initiatives across the state and the nation — emphasize what’s known as a “housing first” strategy. The primary focus is on getting chronically homeless individuals off the streets and into permanent housing, where they can access services to address mental and physical problems. Given how little notice people report having before they lost their housing, finding ways to provide aid faster should be a priority. Participants were recruited from among homeless young adults receiving services from a community drop-in center located in Central Texas from September 2006-May 2007. The drop-in center, typical of others across the country, provides outreach and support services to homeless/runaway youth ranging in age from years.
- First, the study included a convenience sample of homeless young adults accessing a community drop-in center in a city with a highly transient homeless population.
- Among those who are homeless, substance abuse occurs in a large portion of the population.
- As a drug dependent lifestyle requires a constant infusion of money, heavy involvement in property crime and drug distribution is common.
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These findings demonstrate that treatment and stability are intrinsically linked and interdependent. Obstacles include disaffiliation or social isolation, lack of mobility or transportation, a fragmented delivery system, and complex treatment needs including co-occurring conditions. Additionally, the social service needs of homeless individuals, including access to employment and housing, increase the morbidity and mortality of substance use disorders. Descriptive statistics were calculated for the entire sample and separately for participants’ who used, abused or were dependent on alcohol or drugs.
Risk related to use of specific substances
The proportion of respondents who reported ASU and identified as Indigenous (27.7%) and non-Indigenous (27.2%) respondents were very similar. However, a higher proportion of women who identified as Indigenous (27.9%) reported ASU as a reason for housing loss compared to non-Indigenous women (21.4%). The proportion of individuals reporting ASU as a reason for housing loss increased with time spent homeless over the last year, from 19.0% at 0-2 months to 28.2% for those who reported over 6 months of homelessness in the past year (Figure gallbladder and alcohol consumption 15). Similarly, the proportion of respondents reporting ASU as a reason for housing loss increased as the number of homeless episodes increased, from 22.6% for one episode, to 29.4% for 3 or more episodes (Figure 16). More than 1 million people are homeless, with approximately 30 percent of these people suffering from mental illness and 50 percent chronically addicted to drugs, alcohol or both. Also, interviewers were asked to indicate if they observed a mental illness or substance abuse that was not disclosed by the respondent.
Report highlights
Yet when you factor in homeless families, Culhane estimated the rate of substance abuse would fall to about 35 percent. Dennis Culhane, a University of Pennsylvania professor renowned for his homelessness research, conducted in-depth research on the topic in the 1990s. He said he found about a “50 percent lifetime substance dependence rate” among single adults who were homeless. Much of the research is dated and surveys during the annual can you mix tylenol and alcohol census rely on reports from homeless people themselves. Wells’ perspective is a common one and shapes both local and national discussions about how cities should address homelessness, so I decided to fact check his claim. Statistics like those Wells’ cited can give residents and elected officials ammunition to blame homeless people for their predicaments and provide cover for not exploring solutions that may be costly or controversial.
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The proportion of respondents to first experience homelessness as a child (aged between 0 and 12 years old) was similar for those who did and did not report substance use (7.3% and 7.2%, respectively). Respondents who first experienced homelessness later in life were less likely to report ASU as a contributing factor to their housing loss (13.8% of older adults and 11.3% of seniors). Of those respondents who reported ASU as a reason for housing loss, most identified that they first experienced homelessness as a youth (28.3%), followed by child (25.2%) and adult (24.9%).
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If you or a loved one is currently experiencing homelessness and suffering from substance abuse or addiction, some people can help you and provide you with the support you need. For those who did use drugs in the last six months, 40% of people started using — more than 3 times a week —after becoming homeless. Thirty-one percent of those individuals reported using methamphetamine and 11% used nonprescription opioids more than three times per week. Those who spent most of their nights unsheltered in a non-vehicle (sleeping outside, in tents, in places not meant for human habitation) and individuals who were homeless for more than a year had higher proportions of methamphetamine and opioid use.
Our study highlights a substantial number of respondents classified as moderate risk (49%). For one third of these, this was due to past problematic use of illicit drugs; this is in addition to the 10% of respondents with past problematic use of alcohol. However, 19% of the overall sample also reported past problematic use with recent abstinence. This may indicate remitted SUDs, a relevant clinical status not readily picked up by the ASSIST scoring alcoholic eyes criteria unless close attention is paid to questions about past attempts to quit and expressions of concern from others. Unlike formal treatment or Housing First approaches, the residents themselves typically pay most of the costs through earned income, family resources, or government subsidies, such as general assistance or social disability insurance. Because residents share living arrangements, the rental costs per person tend to be affordable.
Few studies have evaluated economic factors for homeless young adults or the relationship between economic factors and drug use. In this study, it was found that the source of income was a significant predictor of the level of drug use. For example, young adults who sold self-made items were more likely to use drugs infrequently, while those who reported dealing drugs as their primary source of income were more likely to be drug dependent. Previous research has suggested that economically disadvantaged groups who are also socially isolated, may experience physical threats and victimization [48]. The living conditions of this group, compounded with the need for monetary and material resources, may lead to not only illegal activities such as selling drugs, but to violent actions as well [49]. As a drug dependent lifestyle requires a constant infusion of money, heavy involvement in property crime and drug distribution is common.
Then, the COVID crisis led to families being showered with stimulus money just as it throttled the supply of dozens of goods. People might have been happy about increased wages and declining inequality, but all they saw was inflation. Four years ago, the coronavirus pandemic kinked the planet’s supply chains, causing shortages of everything from semiconductor chips to box fans. Temporary lockdowns and a permanent shift away from offices altered consumers’ purchasing patterns. Those factors combined meant that families had more money to spend at a time when supply was constrained—and businesses took advantage. And for the first time since the 1980s, inflation became the central economic problem in American life.
All of these models for treating homelessness and drug addiction see treatment as a continuum, rather than an end point. Long-term treatment, an affordable house and continued support during recovery are all essential if a homeless addict is going to remain sober. Questions about whether a person’s disability contributed to becoming homeless also were not counted, and would have added 3 percentage points to the mental illness and 4.5 to substance abuse categories. But she conceded that the reports leave out data that would give a more complete picture of what’s happening on L.A. County’s streets, including the role that trauma plays in mental illness and substance abuse.