Health Needs
Individuals experiencing street homelessness and other inclusion health groups have extremely poor health, multiple morbidity, and early mortality and this is exacerbated by numerous barriers to accessing health services (Aldridge, R.W., 2018).
The health outcomes for homeless people are significantly worse than the general population. A study investigating homeless mortality in England 2001-2009 found that:
- The average age of death of a homeless man is 47 years old and 43 for a woman, compared to 77 for the general population.
- Around a third of deaths amongst homeless people are as a result of drug and alcohol use.
- Homeless people are over 9 times more likely to commit suicide than the general population.
- Homeless people are three times more likely to die from a road traffic accident, twice as likely from an infection and over three times as likely from a fall.
More information can be found on below links:
- Aldridge, R.W., et al. (2018) ‘What works in inclusion health: overview of effective interventions for marginalised and excluded populations’, The Lancet, 391(10117), pp. 266–280. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673617319591
- Aldridge, R.W., et al. (2019) ‘Causes of death among homeless people: a population-based cross-sectional study of linked hospitalisation and mortality data in England’, Wellcome Open Research, 4(49). Available at: https://wellcomeopenresearch.org/articles/4-49/v
- Department of Health (2010) Healthcare for Single Homeless People. Available at: https://www.housinglin.org.uk/_assets/Resources/Housing/Support_materials/Other_reports_and_guidance/Healthcare_for_single_homeless_people.pdf
- Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England (2020) The national flu immunisation programme 2020 to 2021- update. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/907149/Letter_annualflu_2020_to_2021_update.pdf
- Homeless Link (2014) The unhealthy state of homelessness: Health audit results 2014. Available at: https://www.homeless.org.uk/sites/default/files/site-attachments/The unhealthy state of homelessness FINAL.pdf