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Homelessness is a global challenge.

The United Nations Human Settlements Program estimates that 1.1 billion people live in inadequate housing, and the best data available suggest that more than 100 million people have no housing at all.

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Health of the Homeless and Climate Change - Homeless Hub Research Summary Series

The Homeless Hub

The most common definition of homelessness refers to individuals who sleep in shelters as well as the “absolute homeless” which describes individuals who sleep outdoors or in other places not intended for human habitation. It is estimated that 1% of Toronto’s population use a shelter each year. Homeless people are amongst the most vulnerable groups in developed regions, and suffer from higher rates of chronic disease than the...

Cigarette, marijuana, and alcohol use and prior drug treatment among newly homeless young adults in New York City: Relationship to a history of foster care

R.G. Thompson

D.S. Hasin

An estimated 750,000 to 2 million Americans age 18 to 24 years experience homelessness in any given year (Ammerman et al., 2004). The prevalence of substance use disorders among these young adults is 3 to 4 times higher than that of their never-homeless counterparts (Reardon et al., 2003; Shelton et al., 2009), with about half having a history of alcohol disorders and approximately one third having a history of drug disorders...

Homelessness and neuropsychological impairment: Preliminary analysis of adults entering outpatient psychiatric treatment

Homelessness has been associated with neuropsychological (NP) impairment, but few studies have adequately controlled for factors known to affect NP performance. The authors performed brief NP testing that examined learning, recall, processing speed, executive functioning, and verbal fluency in 50 ever- and 22 never-homeless persons entering outpatient psychiatric treatment. Groups were matched a priori on key demographic,...

Emotional refuge? Dynamics of place and belonging among formerly homeless individuals with mental illness

Desiree Fields

This study investigated the emotional and spatial dynamics of belonging among formerly homeless individuals with mental illness living in independent supportive housing in New York City. The notion of belonging connects with a renewed interest in understanding how to achieve integration of this population in their communities and broader society ([Ware et al., 2007] and [Wong and Solomon, 2002]). Eighteen in-depth interviews...

A Time for Action: A National Plan to Address Aboriginal Housing

National Aboriginal Housing Association

Steve Pomeroy

The housing conditions in Aboriginal communities have been well documented and compared to third world conditions. This focuses almost exclusively on Aboriginal housing on Reserve; lesswell known is the reality that almost three-quarters (73%) of the Aboriginal population do not live on reserve, and this non-reserve population is increasing. Moreover, the non-reserve Aboriginal population experiences a much larger rate of...

Community-Based Services for Homeless Adults Experiencing Concurrent Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders: A Realist Approach to Synthesizing Evidence

Patricia O'Campo

Maritt Kirst

Nicole Schafer-McDaniel

Michelle Firestone

Allison Scott

Kelly McShane

This resource provides information about community-based services within the Toronto area in regards to co-occurring disorders. Consultations with community-based service providers in Toronto identified a lack of strong research evidence about successful community-based interventions that address the needs of homeless clients experiencing concurrent mental health and substance use disorders. We undertook a collaborative...

Effect of a housing and case management program on emergency department visits and hospitalizations among chronically ill homeless adults: a randomized trial

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a case management and housing program in reducing use of urgent medical services among homeless adults with chronic medical illnesses. A randomized controlled trial was conducted at a public teaching hospital and a private, nonprofit hospital in Chicago, Illinois. Participants were 407 social worker–referred homeless adults with chronic medical illnesses (89% of...

Patterns of Consumer Usage of Homeless Outreach Services

Amory W. Carr

David S. Glenwich

Se-Kang Kim

Outreach programs are a vital part of the continuum of services for the homeless. To investigate the characteristics of consumers of such programs and the services they receive, a sample of 446 clients of a homeless outreach program in New York City was divided into those who visited only once, two to three times, and four or more times during a 1-month period. Chi-square analyses revealed that the groups differed...

Children on the Streets of the Americas: Globalization, Homelessness and Education in the United States, Brazil, and Cuba

R. Mickelson

The number of street children in developed and developing nations is rising, often in the midst of prosperity. These original contributions study and compare the living conditions and educational experiences of homeless children in the United States, Brazil and Cuba. Because social policy and economic factors are central to these children's plight, Mickelson and her contributors employ a political economy perspective to...

Analysis of Risk Communication Strategies and Approaches with At-Risk Populations to Enhance Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery (Working Paper)

Communication is a critical component of helping individuals prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies. However, there is limited knowledge about how to best communicate with at-risk populations in emergencies. To inform this gap, RAND researchers, under contract by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), sought to understand the...

Affordable Housing in Ottawa, Ontario: A Case Study of Land Use Policy and Transferability (2005)

Greg Sauer

Topic areas that will be covered in the following text include a City of Ottawa affordable housing primer, followed by policies in support of affordable housing. This latter section includes a discussion of land acquisition and dedication; inclusionary zoning; secondary dwelling units; density bonusing and incentives; cash-in-lieu of parking; condominium conversion; demolition policy; down-zoning; and alternate development...

Affordable Housing Land Use Policy Review: Working Paper

Calgary City Council

Affordable Housing Implementation Plan.

Determining suitable locations for affordable housing must balance quality of life considerations for both the occupants of the units and the surrounding community to ensure that healthy community environments are developed and sustained. This recognizes that each affordable housing project must be reviewed on its own merits for the specific geographic location for which it is proposed. Developing land use policy and...

Homes Not Handcuffs: The Criminalization of Homelessness in US Cities

Homes Not Handcuffs is the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty’s (NLCHP) ninth report on the criminalization of homelessness and the National Coalition for the Homeless’ (NCH) fifth report on the topic. The report documents cities with the worst record related to criminalizing homelessness, as well as initiatives in some cities that constitute more constructive approaches to street homelessness. The report...

Taking Care of Their Own? Or Falling Between the Cracks? Absolute Relative Homelessness Among Immigrants, Refugees, Refugee Claimants in Vancouver

Daniel Hiebert

Silvia D’Addario

Kathy Sherrell

The housing situation of newcomers to Greater Vancouver is heavily influenced by the social capital of existing ethno-cultural communities. As a result, the extent of relative and absolute homelessness among immigrants, refugees, and refugee claimants is less than would be expected, given the income levels of these groups. Although many individuals and families are living in crowded, sub-standard conditions, the social...

Hepatitis C virus and HIV co-infection in people with severe mental illness and substance use disorders

The 5-7% of adults in the United States with severe mental illness (SMI), especially the 50% who are 'dually diagnosed' with co-occurring substance use disorders (SUD), are at an elevated risk of HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV). However, little is known about HIV/HCV co-infection in this population. This paper examines the prevalence and correlates of HIV, hepatitis C, and HIV/HCV co-infection in a large, multisite...

Co-occurring Hepatitis C, substance use, and psychiatric illness: Treatment issues and developing integrated models of care

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is transmitted by injection drug use and associated with psychiatric conditions. Patients with drug use or significant psychiatric illness have typically been excluded from HCV treatment trials noting the 1997 National Institutes of Health Consensus Statement on HCV that indicated active drug use and major depressive illness were contraindications to treatment of HCV infection. However, the...

Suicidal Behavior and Sexual/Physical Abuse Among Street Youth

This study examined the relationship between home life risk factors and suicide attempts among homeless and runaway street youth recruited from both shelters and street locations in Denver, CO; New York City; and San Francisco, CA. Street youth 12–19 years old (N = 775) were recruited by street outreach staff in Denver, New York City and San Francisco in 1992 and 1993 and interviewed. Cross-sectional, retrospective data were...

Housing Issues Facing Immigrants and Refugees in Greater Toronto: Initial Findings From Jamaican, Polish and Somali Communities

Toronto is the primary reception area for Canada’s immigrants and refugees. Since the early 1970s approximately one-third of immigrants and refugees coming to Canada each year have settled in the Toronto area, which has only about thirteen percent of Canada’s population. The number of immigrants entering Canada, and settling initially in the Toronto area, increased dramatically in the late 1980s and early 1990s. For Toronto...

Gimme Shelter: Homelessness and Literacy

Betsy Tumpener

Looks at programs and offers best practises for improving literacy among the homeless population in shelters. The tone of the report suggests that the target population is the chronically homeless. It looks at the pros and cons of literacy education, barriers to adult education, different programs with the advantages and disadvantages to each. It includes work sheets and ideas for shelters interested in starting an adult...

The Impact of Homelessness and Interspousal Violence on Children's Adjustment: a Comparison of Two Populations at Risk

Helen Luhaorg

The present study investigated the relationship between children's adjustment and two risk indicators, witnessing interspousal violence and transitional housing. Participants were 6- to 12-year-old children and their mothers who resided in shelters for battered women or hostels for homeless families (191 children from 125 families). Group differences and predictors of adjustment were expected to reflect the risk...

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