Living without access to stable housing is very common. According to the “National Alliance to End Homelessness,” 1 in 194 people in the United States will experience homelessness at some point over a year-long period. As of the year 2015, there were about 565,000 homeless people living in the United States on any given night. It’s estimated that women “comprise a little under 40%” of that population (Homelessness in America). Two years ago, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2016 Annual Homeless Assessment Report recorded that there were 594, 928 homeless people (Andersen, Quinn). From that number, 40%, or approximately 217, 268 are homeless women. And from that number, 78% of that population of homeless women were above the age of 18. Women have turned into the quickest developing section of the homeless populace in the United States, yet almost no thought goes toward their socio-statistic profile, health status, utilization of health administrations, or the connection between their homeless condition to these social and health factors. Homeless women are exceptionally powerless subgroup of the homeless populace. The discoveries from the investigation of a large representative sample of homeless women demonstrates that the seriousness of the homeless condition itself is emphatically connected with poor health and insufficient utilization of health services among these ladies. Discoveries likewise demonstrate that white women are particularly helpless against adverse health and have limited access to different types of healthcare . With feminization of homelessness, it has turned out to be progressively more important to target powerful administration linkages among suppliers of women health services, substance abuse and mental health treatment and primary care to address the special needs of homeless women.
There are many mental health issues and gender related issues that have implications for the design of interventions for homeless women. Homeless women have to attempt to cope with multiple psychosocial stressors, which are often complicated because of untreated medical and mental health needs. Also with all this homeless women often bear the burden of raising children alone under precarious conditions around them and are vulnerable to many violent crimes, rape, and sexually transmitted diseases. Many homeless women suffer from various symptoms of psychological distress, mental disorders, and addiction. Only few of them receive treatment. The lack of housing alone is inadequate to help them improve mental and health complications.
citations: Lisa Arangua MPP, Ronald Andersen Ph.D. & Lillian Gelberg MD, MSPH (2014) The Health Circumstances of Homeless Women in the United States, International Journal of Mental Health, 34:2, 62-92, DOI: 10.1080/00207411.2005.11043398
Buckner, J. C., Bassuk, E. L., & Zima, B. T. (1993). Mental health issues affecting homeless women: Implications for intervention. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 63(3), 385-399.
“Homelessness in America.” National Alliance to End Homelessness, endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/.
Andersen, Quinn. “Bleeding in Public: Menstrual Needs of the Homeless.” Period.org, www.period.org/blog/2017/5/21/quinn.