The Cost of Being Homeless: Your Life

Housing: Why Homeless is Increasing

Right now, market rate is at least $800.00 for a one bedroom. For NEW one bedrooms, it may be closer to $900.00. This does not consider whether there are additional recreational uses such as an onsite gym, whether there are laundry hook ups or not, a swimming pool, or basketball court. For a three bedroom, the market rate is $1,450.00/month. This is not acceptable for households where minimum wage (in Oregon) starts at $12.00/hour. The cost of income is not meeting the cost of inflation.

If homelessness a public health crisis, why has more not been done? Why are we continuing to see the rise in homelessness?

Homelessness does not start off with the stereotypically ‘lazy’ or ‘drug addicts’ narrative often thrown around. In fact, homeless could have started as an injury or perhaps an illness that began as a health condition. Overtime, that injury or illness affects employment, which in turn, leading to inability to pay bills, eventually resulting in eviction and being forced out onto the streets (National Healthcare for the Homeless Council, 2019). Overtime, additional health issues result from living on the streets – from addictions that may develop (in the words of a homeless addict I used to work with, “I take drugs not because I want to, but because it helps me stay warm when I am really cold”), to worsening current health conditions, to the development of new health conditions from living on the street (e.g. not being able to maintain a healthy diet, injuries that will not heal, etc).

To address homelessness requires more than providing healthcare and social services. It starts with offering a roof over their head, and not transitional shelters or temporary shelters where at any moment, they may lose it. Some homeless shelters have hard rules – most notably, being a ‘dry’ shelter. It means not having alcohol or doing drugs. Due to the trauma that people have experienced, no alcohol or drugs may not be possible. Then there are others who stayed at shelters, who were attacked, and suffer from the trauma associated with shelters. Others have mental health conditions that prevent them from staying at a home or shelter on their own, because they may attack others, themselves, or scream into the night, disrupting or triggering others who are struggling with mental health trauma as well.

The solution? Stable housing is one way to begin addressing this need; yet the other parts, from social services and intensive programs, must also be ready to go to support the community. A program called, “Housing First” has been implemented in several states, from Utah (see https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-homelessness-housing/once-a-national-model-utah-struggles-with-homelessness-idUSKCN1P41EQ)  to Oregon (see https://corvallishousingfirst.org/). However, the success of each program requires continued time, dedication, attention, and most important, money. In the above article, Utah had reduced homelessness by 91%; yet the number of homeless Utahians have now increased in the past 6 years. The Housing First model works; yet with factors that may affect the program, such as not building new housing to accommodate the continued need, lack of attention to healthcare needs of the homeless community, to coordination of services, we will continue to see the homeless population increase.

As a former professor of mine used to say, when public health works, we do not see it. Yet, the moment the system breaks down, all hell breaks loose. We need to do better. We need to focus on our communities to ensure our most vulnerable are taken care of.