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4/1/19
Mesa English
Period 3
Many believe that substance abuse and homelessness are connected. Whether this be that
it can cause homelessness or that it is an effect of it. When someone is homeless, they often
experience some type of mental health problems and extreme substance abuse. Homelessness
mortality rates are over three times high than people with some type of housing. (O’Connell,
2005) Money plays a large role in determining who will be homeless and how we will decrease
the population from rising. Funding needs to be increased regarding emergency shelters and
prominent housing.
survival over help. In order to stray away from addictive substances, you need to reach out for
help. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2003) 38%
of the homeless population are dependent on alcohol while 26% reported abusing other drugs.
Alcohol tends to be more common among older generations while drugs are seen more in the
younger homeless population. If someone wants to get out of the homeless life, they need
money. You get money by having a job. In order to get a job you might need to be able to pass a
drug test. If you are an addicted drug abuser, then you can’t pass this test.
According to a survey done in January of 2015, 25% of the American homeless
population claimed they were seriously mentally ill, while 45% of that population claimed to
have any mental illness. The surveys results showed that 69% of the homeless lived in shelters
but 31% were not. Many street drugs are used to self medicate and lower the hrash symptoms
that come with mental illnesses. Evidence shows that stable housing and after treatment
decreases relapse. If we don’t want them using drugs we should increase the homeless housing
budget to keep them off the streets where drugs are highly accessible. Mentally ill people are
being thrown onto the streets by hospitals in order to make beds available. This is done to save
hospitals money but in reality it’s coming out of taxpayers pockets to provide more support to
the justice systems. Many mentally ill patients are put into prisons and jails after being released
There is a large population that consider all those classified as homeless to be alcoholics
and drug abusers. To decrease the homeless population their needs to be an increase in funding
towards substance abuse treatment. Permanent stable housing, and mental health services. Being
on the streets could even cause some to develop psychiatric conditions in response to the daily
starvation, violence and lack of shelter and hospitality. Many of the homeless population take
Works Cited
Torrey, E. Fuller. “Homeless Mentally Ill Facts and Figures.” Mental Illness Policy Org,
mentalillnesspolicy.org/consequences/homeless-mentally-ill.html.
Substance Abuse and Homelessness. National Coalition for the Homeless, July 2009,
www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/addiction.pdf.
Polcin, Douglas L. “Co-Occurring Substance Abuse and Mental Health Problems among
Homeless Persons: Suggestions for Research and Practice.” Journal of Social Distress and the