From the Homeless Alliance here
Fact: The majority of homeless individuals do not suffer from mental illness or chemical addiction. In fact, in Buffalo only 30% of homeless people residing in shelters cited mental health as one of many reasons for their homelessness and only 22.9% cited substance abuse as a reason.
These numbers are significantly smaller for the larger population of individuals accessing mostly supportive services. In addition, many of these individuals experience a “dual diagnosis”, meaning that they experience both conditions concurrently, so there is significant overlap among the aforementioned groups.
For most homeless individuals or those precariously close to homelessness, the loss of a job was the most common reason cited for homelessness.
Family problems, like domestic abuse, as well as unemployment were also major reasons. In addition, 60% identified multiple reasons for homelessness, indicating that there are number of contributing factors to homelessness.
Fact: The majority of homeless individuals do not suffer from mental illness or chemical addiction. In fact, in Buffalo only 30% of homeless people residing in shelters cited mental health as one of many reasons for their homelessness and only 22.9% cited substance abuse as a reason.
These numbers are significantly smaller for the larger population of individuals accessing mostly supportive services. In addition, many of these individuals experience a “dual diagnosis”, meaning that they experience both conditions concurrently, so there is significant overlap among the aforementioned groups.
For most homeless individuals or those precariously close to homelessness, the loss of a job was the most common reason cited for homelessness.
Family problems, like domestic abuse, as well as unemployment were also major reasons. In addition, 60% identified multiple reasons for homelessness, indicating that there are number of contributing factors to homelessness.
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