Helping the Homeless

- While many individuals seeking shelter due to homelessness use the service for the short-term, in many urban settings, studies have shown that 10% of these people have been homeless for over a year (Muckle & Turnbull, 2006).

- This means that many homeless people seeking shelter in Canada must use shelters for the long-term.

- However, many municipalities have proven to be unprepared to face the issue of homelessness (Ranasinghe & Valverde, 2006)

- It is harder to create services and resources for homeless people, such as shelters, than one may think (Ranasinghe & Valverde, 2006).

- Ranasinghe & Valverde (2006) concluded that to solve the issue of homelessness, all three levels of the Canadian government must work together

- Crowded conditions in homeless shelters create a negative environment for the homeless (Miller et al, 2004). This is an issue that must be addressed for both the comfort and health of the homeless population.

- Some researchers have suggested that offering counseling services in shelters could also assist the homeless population (Miller et al, 2004).

- Not only must officials make sure that there are adequate shelters and resources for the homeless, but they must also ensure that these resources are positive and well-kept up.

- Resources for the homeless can be found on the "resources" page on this blog.

 

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Homeless Aboriginals

- a disproportionate amount of Aboriginal people face homelessness (Menzies, 2008).

- 26% of people in Toronto lacking shelter are Aboriginal. This is significant because they make up less than 1% of Toronto's total population (Menzies, 2008).

- Aboriginal homelessness in Canada is both a historical and contemporary issue. The legacy of colonization and residential schools have contributed to the homeless statuses of many Aboriginal Canadians through trauma, poverty, and mental illness (Menzies, 2008).

- This is related to "anomie": Aboriginals have struggled to find a place to belong amongst Canadian culture and what remains of their own cultures. (Menzies, 2008).

- There is evidence that statistics concerning the homeless Aboriginal population are inaccurate and that this is a much larger issue (Thurston et al, 2013).

- Street-involved Aboriginal youth were 2.5 times more likely to contract HIV than the general population (Marshall et al, 2008)

 

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Homelessness and Discrimination

- According to Skosireva et al's Toronto-based study (2014), many homeless persons perceived that they faced discrimination in healthcare.

- Perceiving discrimination is a serious problem for homeless people, especially concerning healthcare services. If individuals believe they are being discriminated against, they may be hesitant to seek treatment for health problems.

- There is a correlation between the perception of discrimination related both to one's homeless status and one's status as mentally ill or struggling with drug abuse (Skosireva et al, 2014).

- Some homeless individuals in Skosireva et al's study felt that they were being judged based on their racial or ethnic background along with their homeless status (2014)

 

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- Homeless individuals tend to perceive discrimination based on their mental health status more often than their racial or ethnic backgrounds (Skosireva et al, 2014)

- However, this does not erase the race-based discrimination that homeless individuals do face.

- Those with substance abuse problems were more likely to report feeling like they were being discriminated against than those who did not struggle with these issues (Skosireva et al, 2014)

Homeless Youth

High levels of depression and suicidal thoughts have been discovered among homeless youth (Smart & Walsh, 1993). A Canadian study measuring issues that homeless youth faced actually found that about 25% of homeless youth struggled with thoughts of suicide (Smart & Walsh, 1993).

According to Smart & Walsh (1993):
     - self esteem, social support systems and uses of a hostel were related to depression in homeless youth
     - street youth scored as more depressed if their parents or guardians' drug use resulted in them moving out of their homes and into the street
    

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-Youth are one of the fastest growing homeless populations in Canada (Doroshenko et al, 2012).

- Homeless youth have a higher chance of facing issues related to malnutrition than the general Canadian population (Doroshenko et al, 2012)

- Homeless youth tend to use drugs (both legal and illegal) at higher percentages than non-homeless individuals of the same age (Doroshenko et al, 2012).

- 150,000 Canadian youth live on the streets daily (Doroshenko et al, 2012).

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Homeless Women

While people of all genders may face homelessness, Canadian women have increasingly been the subjects of studies and articles concerning the experiences of homeless females throughout the nation.

Homelessness is traditionally seen as something that men face (Lenon, 2000), however, families, young Canadians, and women are said to be accelerating their at-risk statuses concerning homelessness (Lenon, 2000). For example, in Montreal in 1996, 30-40% of the homeless population were women (Lenon, 2000).

 

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- Between 1997-1998, over 90,000 women and children fled to various shelters in Canada (Miller & Mont, 2000)
     - a substantial amount of women were fleeing abuse
     - approximately 60% of the women were mothers
     - However, statistics on homelessness have not included these women

- 57% of single-parent families with a female provider are living in poverty (Lenon, 2000)

- 19% of adult Canadian women are poor (Lenon, 2000)

-These statistics show that women are at risk of poverty, which may result in homelessness or a lack of access to housing (Lenon, 2000)

Psychology and Homelessness Part 2

- Bell & Walsh's 2015 study involved interviewing men in a homeless shelter

                      - they described feeling like outsiders

                      - The absence of a house or home was connected to a feeling of a loss of identity, self    worth, and self-efficacy

                      - These negative feelings can contribute to negative mental health

 

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- Historically the mentally ill have also been considered as "the other", often resulting in stigma and isolation (Gomory et al, 2013)

- Unfortunately, prejudiced attitudes towards the mentally ill are not so far back in history that they have disappeared entirely.

- Tringo's 1970 study, cited by Noe (1997) found that

                 - people with mental illnesses were thought of as undesirable

                 - those struggling with alcoholism were considered as even less desirable than those with other mental health issues

- as the homeless population has struggled with mental illness, including alcoholism (O'Reilly-Fleming, 1993), this creates an intersection of stigmatization

Psychology and Homelessness Part 1

- In comparison to the general Canadian population, homeless Canadians have been found to deal with higher rates of problems such as social isolation and mental illness (Duchesne & Rothwell, 2016).

 

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- McLaughlin's study, cited by O'Reilly-Fleming (1993) observed and recorded data from Ontario's homeless shelters on the night of January 22nd, 1987

                    - 33.3% abused alcohol

                    - 15% used illegal drugs

                    - 20.1% were current/former psychiatric patients

- This study ultimately concluded that there was definitely a correlation between homelessness and mental health issues (O'Reilly-Fleming, 1993).

 

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