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Causes of Homelessness:
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For families and individuals struggling to pay the rent, a serious illness or disability can lead to homelessness. In 1997, more than a third of persons living in poverty had no health insurance of any kind. The coverage held by many others would not carry them through a catastrophic illness.
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Inadequate government programs addressing mental health, child care, and education keep many homeless people from escaping their circumstances. The majority of the 37.9 million Americans without health insurance earn low incomes and are less likely to survive an economic crisis resulting from prolonged illness.
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Homeless people are twice as likely as the general population to have chronic health problems but are less likely to have access to adequate health care.
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A national study found that 13% of homeless individuals became homeless due to health problems and that the mortality rate for a homeless person was 3-4 times higher than that of the general public.
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Homeless people are 10-15 times more likely to suffer from gangrene, gout and ulcerations resulting in amputation; 2-3 times more likely to suffer from gastro-intestinal disorders; and 2-4 times more prone to hypertension.
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Eight percent of homeless people suffer from AIDS or are HIV-positive.
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Other serious health problems faced by homeless people include tuberculosis, malnutrition, severe dental problems, alcoholism, mental illnesses, diabetes, hypertension, and physical disabilities. Homeless people without shelter also are subject parasites, frostbite, infections and violence.
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Millions of Americans experience homelessness each year and are in desperate need of health care services. Most do not have health insurance of any sort, and none have cash to pay for medical care.
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Homeless people are concentrated in urban centers and are dispersed throughout rural areas, not often close to the health care facilities that they need.
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Poor access to health care causes the relatively minor health problems of homeless people to develop into health care emergencies that are treated in hospital emergency rooms and acute care wards at great public expense.
Sources
Causes of Homelessness in America. (n.d.) National Law Center on
Homelessness and Poverty. Retrieved August 24, 2001, from
http://www.nlchp.org/causes.htm
Homelessness: The Causes and Facts - Introduction. (n.d.) Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio. Retrieved August 24, 2001, from http://www.cohhio.org/Chicagofactsheet.html
Homelessness in America Today. (n.d.) National Health Care for the
Homeless Council. Retrieved August 24, 2001, from
http://www.nhchc.org/basics.html
