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What statistics are those? Can you cite your sources? Because I've never seen anything that suggests that a majority of homeless people have addiction/mental

What statistics are those? Can you cite your sources? Because I've never seen anything that suggests that a majority of homeless people have addiction/mental illness problems. A higher percentage of such issues then the housed population, sure, but not a majority. AFAIK, you can find a direct correspondence between increased rental prices and increased homelessness, and that's the main contributor. https://www.zillow.com/research/homelessness-rent-affordability-22247/ https://www.zillow.com/research/homelessness-rent-affordabil... I mean unless you go back to the 1970's before the U.S. Government literally decimated it's housing budget (https://www.kcet.org/shows/socal-connected/the-rise-of-homelessness-in-the-1980s https://www.kcet.org/shows/socal-connected/the-rise-of-homel...)

toufiqbarhamov 8y ago
Depending on your source it ranges from ~33% to over 50%. SAMHSA stats out it over 50%, others like this out it lower around 48%: https://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/addiction.pdf https://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/addiction.pdf https://sunrisehouse.com/addiction-demographics/homeless-population/ https://sunrisehouse.com/addiction-demographics/homeless-pop... https://mentalillnesspolicy.org/consequences/homeless-mentally-ill.html https://mentalillnesspolicy.org/consequences/homeless-mental... In January 2015, the most extensive survey ever undertaken found 564,708 people were homeless on a given night in the United States. Depending on the age group in question, and how homelessness is defined, the consensus estimate as of 2014 was that, at minimum, 25 percent of the American homeless—140,000 individuals—were seriously mentally ill at any given point in time. Forty-five percent of the homeless—250,000 individuals—had any mental illness. More would be labeled homeless if these were annual counts rather than point-in-time counts. https://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/addiction.pdf https://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/addiction.pdf Although obtaining an accurate, recent count is difficult, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2003) estimates, 38% of homeless people were dependent on alcohol and 26% abused other drugs. Alcohol abuse is more common in older generations, while drug abuse is more common in homeless youth and young adults (Didenko and Pankratz, 2007). Substance abuse is much more common among homeless people than in the general population. According to the 2006 National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 15% of people above the age of 12 reported using drugs within the past year and only 8% reported using drugs within the past month. https://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/fixing-the-system/features-and-news/2596-how-many-people-with-serious-mental-illness-are-homeless https://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/fixing-the-system/fe...
- lsiebert 8y ago
  I don't think you can just add the Sahmsa data, as they may be separate questions. I looked for, and couldn't find the original report. https://nationalhomeless.org/about-homelessness/ https://nationalhomeless.org/about-homelessness/ lists housing and poverty as the major factors contributing the homelessness, and under other contributing factors says that, "Approximately 16% of the single adult homeless population suffers from some form of severe and persistent mental illness" I could go through and argue these step by step, but I think my larger point is that homelessness is an economic issue. Drug addiction rates haven't increased over time (see https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/10/chart-says-war-drugs-isnt-working/322592/ https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/10/chart-s... ) It's harder to talk about mental health rates, since so many mental health issues are untreated and increased mental health treatment can be mistaken for new rates, but I've seen nothing suggesting that rates have increased dramatically since the 1970s. Homelessness however, increased dramatically. So I don't think you can place addiction or mental illness as the main contributor. Getting to your statement on housing first initiatives, even if homelessness was 100% addiction and mental illness related, a stable location allows better continuity of care, provision of treatment, followups etc. Certainly sticking someone in a house isn't enough, but it can be a meaningful start, even if the person suffers from addiction or mental illness. It also reduces street victimization, infectious disease spread, hypothermia, etc. Also, I'd note that homelessness is not just a single person issue. Many families become homeless, the National Center on Family Homelessness estimates 1 in 30 children are homeless (https://www.air.org/center/national-center-family-homelessness https://www.air.org/center/national-center-family-homelessne...). Housing first helps kids and families. Incidentally domestic violence is one of the biggest causes of women and families being homeless :-(. I believe treating homelessness as merely as mental health/addiction/public health issue and not an economic consequence to reductions in affordable housing, housing assistance, and lower real wages for low income workers misses the point. We've probably strayed a bit far from talking about stadiums, so I'll leave it be.

toufiqbarhamov 8y ago

Depending on your source it ranges from ~33% to over 50%. SAMHSA stats out it over 50%, others like this out it lower around 48%: https://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/addiction.pdf https://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/addiction.pdf https://sunrisehouse.com/addiction-demographics/homeless-population/ https://sunrisehouse.com/addiction-demographics/homeless-pop... https://mentalillnesspolicy.org/consequences/homeless-mentally-ill.html https://mentalillnesspolicy.org/consequences/homeless-mental... In January 2015, the most extensive survey ever undertaken found 564,708 people were homeless on a given night in the United States. Depending on the age group in question, and how homelessness is defined, the consensus estimate as of 2014 was that, at minimum, 25 percent of the American homeless—140,000 individuals—were seriously mentally ill at any given point in time. Forty-five percent of the homeless—250,000 individuals—had any mental illness. More would be labeled homeless if these were annual counts rather than point-in-time counts. https://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/addiction.pdf https://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/addiction.pdf Although obtaining an accurate, recent count is difficult, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2003) estimates, 38% of homeless people were dependent on alcohol and 26% abused other drugs. Alcohol abuse is more common in older generations, while drug abuse is more common in homeless youth and young adults (Didenko and Pankratz, 2007). Substance abuse is much more common among homeless people than in the general population. According to the 2006 National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 15% of people above the age of 12 reported using drugs within the past year and only 8% reported using drugs within the past month. https://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/fixing-the-system/features-and-news/2596-how-many-people-with-serious-mental-illness-are-homeless https://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/fixing-the-system/fe...

lsiebert 8y ago
I don't think you can just add the Sahmsa data, as they may be separate questions. I looked for, and couldn't find the original report. https://nationalhomeless.org/about-homelessness/ https://nationalhomeless.org/about-homelessness/ lists housing and poverty as the major factors contributing the homelessness, and under other contributing factors says that, "Approximately 16% of the single adult homeless population suffers from some form of severe and persistent mental illness" I could go through and argue these step by step, but I think my larger point is that homelessness is an economic issue. Drug addiction rates haven't increased over time (see https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/10/chart-says-war-drugs-isnt-working/322592/ https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/10/chart-s... ) It's harder to talk about mental health rates, since so many mental health issues are untreated and increased mental health treatment can be mistaken for new rates, but I've seen nothing suggesting that rates have increased dramatically since the 1970s. Homelessness however, increased dramatically. So I don't think you can place addiction or mental illness as the main contributor. Getting to your statement on housing first initiatives, even if homelessness was 100% addiction and mental illness related, a stable location allows better continuity of care, provision of treatment, followups etc. Certainly sticking someone in a house isn't enough, but it can be a meaningful start, even if the person suffers from addiction or mental illness. It also reduces street victimization, infectious disease spread, hypothermia, etc. Also, I'd note that homelessness is not just a single person issue. Many families become homeless, the National Center on Family Homelessness estimates 1 in 30 children are homeless (https://www.air.org/center/national-center-family-homelessness https://www.air.org/center/national-center-family-homelessne...). Housing first helps kids and families. Incidentally domestic violence is one of the biggest causes of women and families being homeless :-(. I believe treating homelessness as merely as mental health/addiction/public health issue and not an economic consequence to reductions in affordable housing, housing assistance, and lower real wages for low income workers misses the point. We've probably strayed a bit far from talking about stadiums, so I'll leave it be.