HIV/AIDS And Homelessness: The National Council For The Homeless

Homelessness has been a prevalent and contentious topic since its public emergence in the 1980’s. In fact, according to the most recent estimates, on any given night in the United States, there are roughly 645,000 people residing in homeless shelters or unsheltered street locations (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2011). And based on a local study done by the Mental Health Unit at the Houston Police Department in 2011, Houston has the largest homeless population in Texas and the eighth largest in the United States. While many great efforts have been put forth to aid the homeless population in Houston, “the public health epidemiology task of quantifying and tracking child and family homelessness over time has been complicated…by increasing rates of…shortages [in] affordable housing” (Grant et al., 2013), and restrictions on temporary encampments (Loftus-Ferren, 2013). In order to successfully reduce, prevent and combat homelessness, more policies must be put in place to create sustainable, affordable housing for homeless families and to modify current laws that harm homeless individuals.

Homeless people are a vulnerable population in many respects that they always face discrimination and exclusion because of their housing condition. It is a social problem that typically low wages and shortage of affordable housing are the main factors contributing to homelessness. In fact, many poor people face significant barriers to maintain stable housing because they don’t have accessibilities to increase their economic stability. Overall, there are significant factors that contribute to homelessness that many homeless people usually struggle with limited access to resources, lack of information about services, and lack of support systems.

The homeless are a vulnerable population. They are defined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as “an individual who lacks housing (without regard to whether the individual is a member of a family), including an individual whose primary residence during the night is a supervised public or private facility (e.g., shelters) that provides temporary living accommodations, and an individual who is a resident in transitional housing.” (The National Health Care for the Homeless Council, 2016). They are a social group throughout the US who are susceptible to all of the life’s cruelties. They are much more at risk for adverse illnesses due to their lack of available resources and medical help. Many have predetermined illnesses which need daily treatment but cannot acquire the medication needed. The homeless population lacks the funding for life’s necessities, thus the luxury of insurance and medicine is a dream.

Kalichman, Seth C., Lisa Belcher, Charsey Cherry, Ernestine A. Williams, Christopher T. Allers. 1997. “Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Seropositive Homeless Men.” Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless. 6(4): 303-318.

In the United States the homeless population continues to grow rapidly. Homelessness has been a public health issue for many decades. Often times these individuals feel as though society has turned a blind eye to them. This at risk population is seen by society as lazy or chose to live a life on the streets, but if one would examine this population closely would see that there is more to this at risk population than what society has labeled them as. The forces, which affect homelessness, are multifaceted. Social forces such as family breakdown, addictions, and mental illnesses are in combined with structural forces such as lack of low-cost housing, insufficient health services, and poor economic conditions. Many would

The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age (WHO, 2016). This current event relates to the social determinants of health because homelessness has a huge impact on someone’s overall health and quality of life. People who experience homelessness do not have the resources to maintain their health. This can lead to stress, depression, substance abuse, and a number of problems. They are exposed to communicable diseases, malnutrition and many other health issues. Over 500,000 Americans are homeless every night (Kertesz, 2016). This is why we have Health Care for the Homeless programs. The majority of federally funded organizations for the homeless are operated properly. But, there are some

Housing is a primary setting where individuals are able to relax and enjoy their private space. However, it is the greatest unmet need among people living with HIV/AIDS. Most people living with HIV/AIDS in New York City are often sleeping in shelters, on the streets, on the trains or other places. Homelessness and HIV are not only affecting low-income individuals, the population affected are diversifying socio-demographically; and has also affect individuals across every division of class, gender, and race.

The problem of homelessness in American has gone pretty much unsolved since the turn of the 20th century or at least since the Great Depression and lately it seems that homelessness has become a desperate cycle often repeated for some who fail to make their way back from losing everything. This is especially true, this 21st century cycle of struggling to get back on one’s feet and then getting knocked down again before gaining any permanence, of those with special needs and conditions accompanying their homelessness like alcohol and substance abuse, a criminal record, a mental disorder or physical or learning disability – and being HIV positive. While homelessness overall remains a major challenge in Baltimore City and cities across the US, much has been done over the last couple decades to address these special needs populations – housing those infected with HIV/AIDS having been a major challenge mostly overcome.

Many who have experienced food insufficiency feel that health care is a lower priority when directing their personal resources. Another barrier is vision impairment, the person may be unable to navigate the system or collect needed health information due to poor eye sight (Baggett, O’Connell, Singer, & Rigotti, 2010). Finding transportation to clinics or provider’s offices to receive care may enable some from using preventive care. Another major factor is stigmatism. A homeless man or woman may feel they are being stigmatized by health care professionals (Hwang et al., 2010). Work for the homeless often comes day by day and is unpredictable. In addition their current job may be the only source of income for the individual or family. The consequences of missing work even for health reasons is costly to someone’s survival, making work their number one priority. These various reasons can lead to prolonged homelessness, loss of employment related to inability to work from being ill, and further health deterioration or possibly death (Hwang et al., 2010). The extent that homeless individuals are able to obtain health care is largely unknown (Baggett, O’Connell, Singer, & Rigotti, 2010).

The homeless are under-served vulnerable populace because this population is at an expanded risk for adverse health-related outcomes. These groups of individuals take asylum in the homeless shelter, and others live in surrendered structures, in this manner, reaching homelessness people's turns out to be progressively troublesome increasingly. In fact, homeless has various causes, for example, “deinstitutionalization in the 1960’s… freedom from slavery, westward expansion, lumber and railroad work, the Great Depression, and the aftereffects of the war” (Karkness and DeMarco, 2016, pg. 374). Indeed, even though, this populace is hard to reach, there are numerous things being done to address this issue. For instance, healthcare is

Vulnerable community population is a group that experiences higher risk of poverty and have less or no access to healthcare than the general population. Vulnerable populations include ethnic minorities, populations affected by disabilities, homeless, rural and migrant populations, those struggling with mental health and substance abuse. A homeless person is an individual who lacks a permanent place of residence or an individual with “a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations” (Nies and McEwen, 2011, p. 428). This paper will analyze and discuss the impact of barriers related to health care in homeless population.

Homeless people are identified as a high risk group with a variety of health issue that need to be addressed. Homeless people encounter many obstacles when attempting to access and receive health care. “Conditions associated with homelessness have a profound effect on an individual's ability

There are predisposing, enabling, and need characteristics of vulnerability. The predisposing characteristics of vulnerability are racial/ethnic characteristics, geographic location such as rural health, and gender and age. The enabling characteristics of vulnerability are insurance status (uninsured) and homelessness. The insurance status of uninsured are usually individuals who are poor and less educated, work at part-time jobs, minorities, and younger (25-40 years old). There are 3.5 million Americans who experience homelessness each year and around ⅓ of them consist of families with children and 40% of all homeless men served in the army. The need characteristics of vulnerability are mental health, chronic illness or disability, and HIV/AIDS (Begay, Chapter 11 Lecture, Apr

HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus and can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) if not treated (About HIV/AIDS, n.d). Unlike some other viruses, the human body cannot fully rid itself of HIV completely, even with treatment. Simply put, once you contract HIV, you have it for life. This disease attacks the body’s immune system, specifically the CD4 cells (T cells), which help the immune system stave off infections. When left to its own devices, HIV reduces the number of CD4 cells (T cells) in the body, making the person more likely to

Human immunodeficiency Virus also known as HIV is a sexually transmitted disease. It attacks your body's immune system. The virus destroys CD4 cells, which help your body fight diseases. HIV damages your immune system and it leads to acquired immune deficiency syndrome also known as AIDS. AIDS is the final stage in HIV, and it’s a disease where severe loss of the body's cellular immunity occurs. The disease lowers the resistance to infection and malignancy. Anyone can get HIV/AIDS. Men, women, and children, of all different races and descents can get infected with the virus. People who are gay or straight can also be infected with HIV/AIDS. There is currently no cure for HIV/AIDS. HIV treatments may reduce