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Causes of Homelessness
Poverty
The primary reason for homelessness is extreme poverty. The poverty rate for New Mexico in 2005 was 7.8% while the national average was 5.7% New Mexico has the highest rate of child poverty in the nation. A staggering 54,000 New Mexicans are hungry or are threatened with hunger.
Homeless families typically live in cars, campgrounds, shelters, motels or short-term apartments. Family homelessness is complicated, systemic, and widespread. However, it is largely driven by the inability of very low-income families to afford housing.
Most homeless families are headed by single women, potentially reducing the household’s earning power. They also have few, if any, positive support networks.
But there are other reasons for homelessness – personal tragedy, loss of a job, abuse, trauma . . . and often mental illness, and/or substance abuse.
Domestic Violence
Domestic violence is the immediate cause of homelessness for many women. Research studies reveal that domestic violence is one of the most frequently stated causes of homelessness for families, with 13 percent of homeless families saying that they had left their last place of residence because of abuse or violence in the household.
Domestic violence victims have both short- and long-term housing needs that must be met so that they do not need to choose between staying with their abuser and sleeping on the street. Immediately, domestic violence victims need a safe place to stay. Ultimately, domestic violence victims need safe, stable, affordable housing. A general supply of affordable housing is crucial to this population so that they can afford to leave the shelter system as quickly as possible without returning to their abuser.
Physical Health, Mental Illness, and Substance Abuse
Homeless people suffer from high rates of mental and physical health problems exacerbated by living on the streets and in shelters. Health conditions that require ongoing treatment—such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, addiction, and mental illness—are difficult to treat when people are living in shelter or on the streets. Medication needs to be taken at regular intervals and often has other instructions such as needing refrigeration which are difficult for people experiencing homelessness to carry out and make it difficult to manage their illness. People experiencing homelessness also often lack access to preventative care, waiting until a trip to the emergency room is a matter of life or death. These emergency room visits are costly. Finally, hospitals far to often discharge people without ensuring they have housing which increases the odds that the condition being treated will return or worsen.
In addition, approximately half of people experiencing homelessness suffer from mental health issues. At a given point in time, 45 percent of homeless report indicators of mental health problems during the past year, and 57 percent report having had a mental health problem during their lifetime. About 25 percent of the homelessness population has serious mental illness, including such diagnoses as chronic depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorders, and severe personality disorders.
Substance use is also prevalent among homeless populations. In a 1996 survey, 46 percent of the homeless respondents had an alcohol use problem during the past year, and 62 percent had an alcohol use problem at some point in their lifetime. Thirty-eight percent had a problem with drug use during the past year, and 58 percent had a drug use problem during their lifetime.
Chronic Homelessness
Chronic homelessness is long-term or repeated homelessness of a person with a disability. Many chronically homeless people have a serious mental illness like schizophrenia and/or alcohol or drug addiction. Most people who experience chronic homelessness have been in treatment programs, sometimes on dozens of occasions.
There were approximately 124,000 chronically homeless people in January 2007. Evidence from applications since then indicates that the number has declined, at least partly because of an increase in the amount of permanent supportive housing.
Permanent supportive housing combined with policies to prevent people from becoming homeless represent the solution to chronic homelessness. The vast majority of people who experience chronic homelessness interact with multiple service systems, providing an opportunity to prevent their homelessness in the first place. Promising prevention strategies focus on people who are leaving hospitals, psychiatric facilities, substance abuse treatment programs, prisons, and jails.
Homelessness has a devastating effect on families. The more a family can experience normality while living at an emergency shelter, the less traumatic their time of homelessness will be. Barrett Foundation works with other community organizations to link women with the services they need – health and dental services, education for their children, and employment opportunities.