IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i16p8887-d620065.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Investing in Public Health Infrastructure to Address the Complexities of Homelessness

Author

Listed:
  • John P. Allegrante

    (Department of Health and Behavior Studies, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
    Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA)

  • David A. Sleet

    (School of Public Health, College of Health and Human Services, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182-4124, USA
    Veritas Management Group, Inc., Atlanta, GA 30318-0655, USA)

Abstract

Homelessness is now recognized as a significant public health problem in North America and throughout advanced economies of the world. The causes of homelessness are complex but the lack of affordable housing, unemployment, poverty, addiction, and mental illness all contribute to the risk for homelessness. We argue that homelessness is increasingly exacerbated by system-wide infrastructure failures occurring at the municipal, state, and federal government levels and whose catastrophic impacts on population health and the response to the COVID-19 pandemic are the consequence of the decades-long devolution of government and neglect to invest in public infrastructure, including a modern public health system.

Suggested Citation

  • John P. Allegrante & David A. Sleet, 2021. "Investing in Public Health Infrastructure to Address the Complexities of Homelessness," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-8, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:16:p:8887-:d:620065
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/16/8887/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/16/8887/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Keuntae Kim & Ivis Garcia, 2019. "Why Do Homeless Families Exit and Return the Homeless Shelter? Factors Affecting the Risk of Family Homelessness in Salt Lake County (Utah, United States) as a Case Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-23, November.
    2. Congressional Budget Office, 2018. "Public Spending on Transportation and Water Infrastructure, 1956 to 2017," Reports 54539, Congressional Budget Office.
    3. Anson Wong & Jerry Chen & Renée Dicipulo & Danielle Weiss & David A. Sleet & Louis Hugo Francescutti, 2020. "Combatting Homelessness in Canada: Applying Lessons Learned from Six Tiny Villages to the Edmonton Bridge Healing Program," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-19, August.
    4. Saegert, S.C. & Klitzman, S. & Freudenberg, N. & Cooperman-Mroczek, J. & Nassar, S., 2003. "Healthy Housing: A Structured Review of Published Evaluations of US Interventions to Improve Health by Modifying Housing in the United States, 1990-2001," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(9), pages 1471-1477.
    5. Hopper, K. & Shinn, M. & Laska, E. & Meisner, M. & Wanderling, J., 2008. "Estimating numbers of unsheltered homeless people through plant-capture and postcount survey methods," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 98(8), pages 1438-1442.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nayara Gonçalves Barbosa & Hellen Aparecida de Azevedo Pereira & Marcelo Vinicius Domingos Rodrigues dos Santos & Lise Maria Carvalho Mendes & Flávia Azevedo Gomes-Sponholz & Juliana Cristina dos Sant, 2023. "Assisting Homeless Women in a City in Brazil during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Context of a Street Outreach Office: The Perceptions of Health Professionals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-10, January.
    2. Sonika Bhatnagar & John Lovelace & Ray Prushnok & Justin Kanter & Joan Eichner & Dan LaVallee & James Schuster, 2023. "A Novel Framework to Address the Complexities of Housing Insecurity and Its Associated Health Outcomes and Inequities: “Give, Partner, Invest”," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(14), pages 1-11, July.
    3. David A. Sleet & Louis Hugo Francescutti, 2021. "Homelessness and Public Health: A Focus on Strategies and Solutions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-6, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chris O'Leary & Ligia Teixeira & Esther Coren & Zsolt Kiss & Anton Roberts & Harry Amitage, 2022. "PROTOCOL: The effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for reducing problematic substance use, improving mental health, and improving housing stability for adults experiencing homelessness: A syste," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(4), December.
    2. Lorenzo Fattorini & Giulio Ghellini, 2014. "Estimating the Size of Street-Dwelling Populations Using Mark-Resighting Counts," Mathematical Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(1), pages 2-11, January.
    3. David A. Keiser & Joseph S. Shapiro, 2019. "US Water Pollution Regulation over the Past Half Century: Burning Waters to Crystal Springs?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 33(4), pages 51-75, Fall.
    4. Chris O'Leary & Anton Roberts & Ligia Teixeira & Esther Coren, 2022. "PROTOCOL: The experiences of adults experiencing homelessness when accessing and using psychosocial interventions: A systematic review and qualitative evidence synthesis," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(4), December.
    5. Min Zhou & Wei Guo, 2023. "Self-rated Health and Objective Health Status Among Rural-to-Urban Migrants in China: A Healthy Housing Perspective," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(1), pages 1-24, February.
    6. Jennifer Bennett & Robert Kornfeld & Daniel Sichel & David Wasshausen, 2020. "Measuring Infrastructure in BEA's National Economic Accounts," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Analysis and Infrastructure Investment, pages 39-100, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Vincent A. Fusaro & Helen G. Levy & H. Luke Shaefer, 2018. "Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Lifetime Prevalence of Homelessness in the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(6), pages 2119-2128, December.
    8. Edward L. Glaeser & James M. Poterba, 2020. "Introduction to "Economic Analysis and Infrastructure Investment"," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Analysis and Infrastructure Investment, pages 1-38, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Angelina L. DeMarco & Rebecca Hardenbrook & Jeff Rose & Daniel L. Mendoza, 2020. "Air Pollution-Related Health Impacts on Individuals Experiencing Homelessness: Environmental Justice and Health Vulnerability in Salt Lake County, Utah," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-16, November.
    10. James O'Donnell, 2020. "Estimating annual rates of homelessness," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 43(1), pages 1-34.
    11. Canham, Sarah L. & Donovan, Morrison & Rose, Jeff & Jones, Shannon & Garcia, Ivis, 2023. "Transportation needs and mobility patterns of persons experiencing homelessness following shelter decentralization," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    12. William N. Evans & David C. Phillips & Krista Ruffini, 2021. "Policies To Reduce And Prevent Homelessness: What We Know And Gaps In The Research," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(3), pages 914-963, June.
    13. Lorenzo Capasso & Daniela D’Alessandro, 2021. "Housing and Health: Here We Go Again," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-9, November.
    14. Ivis García, 2024. "The Value of Reentry Housing, Zoning, and “Not in My Back Yard” (NIMBY) Obstacles, and How to Overcome Them," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-18, February.
    15. David Gómez-Quintero, Juan & García Martínez, Jesús & Maldonado, Lina, 2020. "Socioeconomic vulnerability and housing insecurity: A critical factor in child care in Spain," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    16. Linda J. Young & Andrea C. Lamas & Denise A. Abreu, 2017. "The 2012 Census of Agriculture: A Capture–Recapture Analysis," Journal of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Statistics, Springer;The International Biometric Society;American Statistical Association, vol. 22(4), pages 523-539, December.
    17. David A. Sleet & Louis Hugo Francescutti, 2021. "Homelessness and Public Health: A Focus on Strategies and Solutions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-6, November.
    18. Edward L. Glaeser & James M. Poterba, 2021. "Economic Analysis and Infrastructure Investment," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number glae-6, July.
    19. Ivis García & Keuntae Kim, 2020. "“ I Felt Safe ”: The Role of the Rapid Rehousing Program in Supporting the Security of Families Experiencing Homelessness in Salt Lake County, Utah," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-15, July.
    20. Herrin, William E. & Amaral, Michelle M. & Balihuta, Arsene M., 2013. "The relationships between housing quality and occupant health in Uganda," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 115-122.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:16:p:8887-:d:620065. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.