[homeles_ot-l] Alliance in the Globe and Mail today!

[Lynne Browne]

Great coverage for the Alliance to End Homelessness!  Globe and Mail’s André
Picard contacted us about the CIHI’s report released yesterday with the
result that Mary-Martha Hale, our Chair and Tim Aubry who’s on our Steering
Committee are featured in his article today. HYPERLINK
"http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070831.LHOMELESS31/TPSto
ry/?query=Hale"http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070831.LHO
MELESS31/TPStory/?query=Hale 

 

Lynne

*******************************************************

GLOBE and MAIL

HEALTH: CIHI REPORT: HOMELESSNESS AND MENTAL ILLNESS


Housing - not health care - may be best medicine


ANDRÉ PICARD 

PUBLIC HEALTH REPORTER

August 31, 2007

People with severe mental illness often end up on the streets. Conversely,
people who end up homeless - usually for financial reasons - are at high
risk of being afflicted with mental health problems.

Regardless of their starting point, the homeless mentally ill make far more
use of health services such as hospital care and emergency room treatment.
This double-barrelled message comes from a new report of the Canadian
Institute for Health Information that examines the complex relationship
between mental health and homelessness.

Far less complex is the solution, activists and academics say. 

"The most obvious solution to homelessness is housing," said Tim Aubry of
the Centre for Research on Educational and Community Services and a
professor at the University of Ottawa.

He said while this may seem flippant or self-evident, the "housing first"
philosophy is just beginning to take root in Canada. 

"In this country we invest so much in health care that we often think it's
the solution to everything," Dr. Aubry said. "But the best medicine for
mental illness is probably housing."

Mary Martha Hale, chairwoman of the Alliance to End Homelessness, agrees.
She said people who suffer from mental health problems need stable living
conditions in which they can receive support, not the stress and risks of
living on the street or in shelters. 

Similarly, those who become homeless for economic reasons such as losing
their jobs need stability so they can get training, find a new job and avoid
a downward spiral of their physical and mental health.

"The answer is housing," Ms. Hale said. "And you know there are social and
financial costs to having people living in shelters or on the street that
are likely greater than subsidized housing."

The CIHI report, for example, shows that the homeless are big users of
health-care services, in particular for treatment of mental health problems.

Specifically, mental disorders (including substance abuse) account for 52
per cent of hospital stays among the homeless, compared to only 5 per cent
among the general population. 

Similarly, 35 per cent of emergency room visits by the homeless were for
treatment of mental disorders, compared to 3 per cent among the general
population. 

The homeless - and street youth in particular - also have much higher rates
of attempted suicide. 

"This heavy use of ERs and hospitals reflects just how isolated and marginal
homeless people are in their communities," Dr. Aubry said. 

Elizabeth Votta, program lead at the Canadian Population Health Initiative
of CIHI and one of the report's main authors, said it is important to stress
that "not all the homeless are mentally ill and not everyone mentally ill is
homeless."

In fact, identifying how many of the homeless suffer from mental illness is
difficult. One small study found that almost two-thirds of shelter residents
in Toronto had suffered mental health problems in their lifetime. But an
Ottawa study found that one-quarter of the homeless were suffering mental
health problems. 

Even estimating homelessness is difficult, Ms. Votta said. The new report
says there are at least 10,000 people living in shelters nightly in Canada,
but concedes that that underestimates the true number of homeless people.

Michelle Gold, senior director of policy and programs at the Canadian Mental
Health Association, said the report "should serve as a wake-up call around a
couple of issues: one, we need to tackle the high rate of poverty among
people with serious mental illness and two, we need more affordable,
supportive housing."

*******************************************************

 

Lynne Browne 
Coordinator, Alliance to End Homelessness 
147 Besserer Street, Ottawa ON  K1N 6A7 
613-241-7913 x 205, lbrowne at ysb.on.ca 
www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca 

 


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