BACKGROUND While scholarship on alcohol use and homelessness has focused on the impact of alcohol abuse and dependence, little is known about the effects of lower levels of misuse such as hazardous use. Veterans receiving care in the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System (VA) constitute a population that is vulnerable to alcohol misuse and homelessness. This research examines the ef...

We examined data for all veterans who completed the Veterans Health Administration's national homelessness screening instrument between October 1, 2012, and January 10, 2013. Among veterans who were not engaged with the US Department of Veterans Affairs homeless system and presented for primary care services, the prevalence of recent housing instability or homelessness was 0.9% and homelessness...

This bulletin is based on research conducted by Professor Gavin Wood and Dr Melek Cigdem at the AHURI Research Centre—RMIT University, and Ms Deb Batterham and Professor Shelley Mallett at Hanover Welfare Services. The research examined, for the first time, the geography of homelessness in Australia and its relationship to potential structural drivers of homelessness (specifically housing and l...

Homelessness is a global social issue that affects both industrializing and industrialized countries. Increasingly, researchers are indicating that problems related to social injustice and poverty are linked cross-nationally, requiring us to look for answers beyond our borders (Cross, Seager, Erasmus, Ward, & O’Donovan, 2010). We must become aware of the global impact of homelessness and share ...

PURPOSE Unaccompanied youth homelessness is a serious concern. Response, however, has been constrained by the absence of credible data on the size and characteristics of the population and reliable means to track youth homelessness over time. We sought to address these gaps. METHODS Using a nationally representative phone-based survey (N = 26,161), we solicited household and individual report...

This study reports the correlates of homeless episodes among 873 Indigenous adults who are part of an ongoing longitudinal study on four reservations in the Northern Midwest and four Canadian First Nation reserves. Descriptive analyses depict differences between those who have and have not experienced an episode of homelessness in their lifetimes. Multivariate analyses assess factors associated...

It is generally believed that the increased incidence of homelessness in the US has arisen from broad societal factors – changes in the institutionalization of the mentally ill, increases in drug addiction and alcohol usage, etc. This paper reports on a comprehensive test of the alternate hypothesis that variations in homelessness arise from changed circumstances in the housing market and in th...

Much has been written in the scientific literature and the popular press about mental disorders among homeless people, and about its converse—homelessness among people living with mental disorders. Yet despite community concern about homelessness and mental illness, we have limited understanding in many places of the genesis of the problem, and limited evaluation of useful ways to tackle it [1–...

This commentary addresses public health issues underlying homelessness and related law, policy, and advocacy options. After framing public health issues for affected individuals and the community, legal and policy approaches and related barriers are assessed. Major topics include deficits in housing availability, the role of state-based Medicaid programs, criminalization of homelessness, and th...

OBJECTIVE Homelessness and patterns of service use were examined among seriously mentally ill persons in an area with a well-funded community-based mental health system. METHODS The sample consisted of 438 individuals referred between 1990 and 1992 to an extended acute care psychiatric hospital after a stay in a general hospital. Those experiencing an episode of homelessness, defined as an ad...