Homelessness Among Elderly

The lack of mental health services available to the mentally-ill and the deinstitutionalization of mental health hospitals have created a public health concern. These issues along with a failed continuum of care plans and a lack of community mental health services have been major contributing factors to homelessness. In addition, the strict guidelines for psychiatric hospitalization are critical when analyzing homelessness. In many cases, only the critically ill are meeting clinical criteria for hospitalization, leaving those who have significant mental health problems to fend for themselves. The link between homelessness and mental health is acknowledged but requires reform.

According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, only 16% of the single adult homeless population suffer from some form of mental illness and according to the National Coalition to the Homeless, The increasingness of homelessness over that past two decades can not be explained by addiction alone

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

In the US homeless population, veterans are slightly overrepresented (Tsai & Rosenheck, 2015). To be exact, veterans constitute 12.3% of all homeless adults (Tsai & Rosenheck, 2015). A study by Harpaz-Rotem, Rosenheck, & Desai (2011) also affirms that roughly 30% are homeless men and 4% are homeless women. By definition, homelessness is not having “a regular or fixed night-time residence,” and homeless people tend to move frequently, stay in homeless shelters, and sleep in places such as vehicles and abandoned buildings (Tsai & Rosenheck, 2015, p. 1). With this in mind, it is important to note that homeless veterans are mostly older males who some form of health insurance coverage than other homeless adults, better educated, and have been married or married (Tsai & Rosenheck, 2015). One would think that these advantages should put veterans at lower risk for homelessness, but this was not the case (Tsai & Rosenheck, 2015). Additionally, a study done by van den Berk-Clark & McGuire (2013) portrays that elderly civilians were less likely to become homeless in comparison to elderly veterans (aged from 51 to 61 years (39%) and 62 years or older (9%)) who were twice as likely to become homeless. Risk factors that can potentially explain homelessness among elderly veterans include life events (e.g., death of spouse or marital breakdown, exiting employment, and evictions), mental illness or medical conditions, minority status, and higher levels of disruptive events during childhood

Seeing homelessness develop is a process that the older generation can say they have been apart of. The young generation, on the other hand, cannot say they have seen the development of homelessness. People who are thirty years old or younger have grown up believing that homelessness was always part of the landscape. The younger generation has come to believe that there have always been homeless people sitting on park benches. When an individual is asked what they see most in a large city like Chicago or New York, ‘homeless people’ is a common response. According to the United States Census Bureau, 320.8 million individuals currently live in the United States of America. Imagine the proportion of individuals that do not own a car or even a house to live in. The National Law Center on Homelessness and poverty did studied to conclude that in America more than 3.5 million people experience homelessness each year. Those concerned with the issue of homelessness are curious as to what events had to have happened that lead to the individuals living on the streets. The reasons are different for each and every person. Some of the more major issues that contribute to this are lack of affordable housing, declining welfare assistance, and most importantly, mental illness. Resolving the issue of homelessness is very possible with new ways of housing and treatment for the mentally ill. The relation between the homeless and the mental illness has risen, and the United States as a whole

The area which is one of the most dangerous areas in Miami has a high crime rate. In the past, several years the area has seen a dramatic increase in the lower income families that reside there. Many have population have suffered from the economic decline of the area leading to many losing businesses and homes. Many of the homeless in the area have been previous residents of the area, with the economic decline of the area many of the population have been displaced and have become homeless. The homeless in the area often have ties to the community whether family or friend and as such they continue to stay in the area.

Homelessness as a result of deinstitutionalization in the US increased dramatically, tripling in 182 cities over the court of the 1980s (Bagenstos, 2012). In addition, mental health and substance abuse is a major problem in across the country because of homelessness. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration,20 to 25% of the homeless population in the United States suffers from some form of severe mental illness (DMHAS, 2014). Consequently, mental illnesses disrupt people’s ability to carry out key aspects of daily life, such as self-care and household responsibilities. As a result of these factors and the stresses of living with a mental disorder, people with mentally illnesses are much more likely to become homeless than the general population (Karger, & Stoesz, 2014). Even if homeless individuals with mental illnesses are provided with housing, they are unlikely to achieve residential stability and remain off the streets unless they have access to continued treatment and services. In Connecticut there are a number of housing options that are in place like supportive housing. Research has shown that supported housing is effective for people with mental illnesses (DMHAS, 2014). Unfortunately, in Connecticut, lack of funding is a significant barrier to the successful implementation of supported housing programs. Because of homelessness people cycle between street corner, jail cell and hospital beds, in addition the homeless who are

The purpose of this paper is to bring acknowledgement to the homeless population in Philadelphia. Research will be provided from scholarly journals as well as published, credible websites. We will explore the overall statistics in the United States but will have a focus on the city of Philadelphia. The homeless population is large and its evident there is an issue with housing and mental illnesses. While there are programs to assist, the homeless population outnumbers the resources available here in Philadelphia. This paper will explore the different types of people impacted such as families, youth, veterans and the elderly. This paper will explain and acknowledge that Philadelphia doesn’t provide enough support to assist the homeless. This paper will focus on the resources and support of local services and but also bring attention to the lack thereof.

Mental health in America is a stigmatized topic that affects nearly 20% of the population and around 1 in 4 people will be affected by a mental illness at some point in their life (World Health Organization, 2010). However, due to the stigma behind mental health, people often do not seek treatment. As for the homeless population, the rates are much higher, with 1 in 4 homeless individuals living with a severe mental illness (Jasinski, Wesely, Mustaine, & Wright, 2005). These people and this population struggles to receive adequate healthcare, but with the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or better known as ObamaCare, there have been positive change made to help these individuals. However, the ACA is not perfect and there are

The problems of homelessness and mental illness are inextricably intertwined. One way that mental illness impacts people's lives is that it oftentimes renders them unable to carry out the functions of daily life, such as keeping a job, paying their bills, and managing a household. In addition to disrupting the events of daily life, mental illness "may also prevent people from forming and maintaining stable relationships or cause people to misinterpret others' guidance and react irrationally" (National Coalition for the Homeless, 2009). What this means is that a population that is already vulnerable because of an inability to consistently manage self-care lacks the same safety net as much of the rest of society.

Critical time intervention (CTI) was designed to be bridge that filled the gap between institutionalization and transition into the community. The hope of CTI is to prevent homelessness among individuals suffering from mental illness as well as develop a step- by- step initiative that could combat the growing problem (Critical Time Intervention, 2012). Buchanan (2006) estimates that 3.5 million individuals are likely to experience homelessness in a given year (Sadowski, 2009). The epidemiology of homelessness suggest that serious mental illness is neither a necessity nor sufficient enough for homelessness. It suggests; however, that individuals suffering from socioeconomically difficulties could inevitably accompany serious mental illnesses to form the abundance of homeless individuals, considering the majority of homelessness is attributed to mental illness cases (Montgomery, 2013). The purpose of this EBP is to integrate critical time intervention with programs simulated by Medicaid and already established initiatives of the Affordable Care Act of 2014.

In our communication they made clear that they also looked at themes that did not match, such a voluntary leaving of the home. However, no member took into consideration metal health. All members also focused on the cause and problems of homelessness with no member viewing the possible solutions to it. An article by Bassuk, E., Rubin, L., & Lauriat, A. (1984). “Is homelessness a mental health problem?”  Looked at Seventy-eight homeless men, women, and children staying at an emergency shelters and found The vast majority have severe psychological illnesses that remained untreated. The authors discuss the relationship of mental health policy to the homeless and suggest that shelters have become alternative institutions to meet the needs of mentally ill people who are no longer cared for by departments of mental health. The findings of the management of metal issues for those who are homeless is mirrored by the case studies of Stephanie’s and Teresa’s mental health playing a large role in their homelessness. Fischer, P. J., & Breakey, W. R. (1991) in their “The epidemiology of alcohol, drug, and mental disorders among homeless persons” look into the prevalence of alcohol, drug, and mental disorders and the characteristics of homeless substance abusers and persons with mental illnesses. They found that prevalence rates of disorders are much higher in homeless

There are not so many information that available regarding to homelessness and aging. There are lots of information that talked about homelessness, and programs that will help homelessness persons, but not in specific group like aging. However, I learned more things about homelessness and aging by doing the researches. I learned more about the demographics, causes, consequences, programs, policies, and step to end homelessness. For my group, we are not only trying to search information in the internet, we also attended homelessness and aging in order to gain more information and use it for this project.

Elderly individual’s issue doesn’t instantly strike a chord, when thinking about homelessness. Homeless older adults, although expanding in numbers, keep on being an overlooked population. Conducted in Oakland, CA, 350 homeless adults, aged 50 and

A group of people from the American Journal of Public Health conducted a research for an experiment to see the “health outcomes of obtaining housing among older homeless adults.” To do this, they conducted an experiment that was over twelve months, and they studied 250 homeless adults of age 50 years and older in Boston, Massachusetts, in the months between January and June of the year 2010. They looked at the geriatric conditions and acute care that each adult had obtained over the months. As a result of their experiment, they found out that the homeless adults that were recruited for housing had less depressive symptoms and needed less care appose to the homeless adults that did not have