Thank you to Michael D. McGee, MD, President, WellMind, Inc; MedCentral Editor-at-Large for Clinical Excellence & Physician Wellbeing who published the article Perspective: Touching the Trauma of Homelessness, from which this series is shared.
[There is a] seemingly intractable problem of the homeless. If we can land a rover on Mars, why can’t we help those within our reach who have no place to live and who are struggling with mental illness and addiction?
If there were an easy answer, I’m sure homelessness would have been eliminated by now.
Yet, on any given night, over half a million people are homeless. Nearly 34% of them, just under 200,000, live on the streets without adequate shelter. Approximately 7% are unaccompanied children and young adults.
The main cause of homelessness is lack of affordable housing. But this is not the only factor. People living in poverty and those with mental disorders are at much higher risk of homelessness due to a lack of economic, social, and functional reserves needed to cope with adversity. Homelessness disproportionately affects people of color. Some sources suggest that up to 40% of homeless people are Black, even though they make up less than 13% of the US population.
