Mental Health and Homelessness: What Funders Should Know (Part 2)
Homelessness can take many forms. Funding at the intersection of mental health and homelessness requires an understanding of the different forms of homelessness, the issues and circumstances impacting each of them, and the challenges in accounting for this population in order to support appropriate interventions. Here we describe the categories of homelessness so that funders can consider which populations they may choose to focus on.
Categories of Homelessness
Chronic homelessness describes people who have experienced homelessness continuously for at least a year. It also refers to individuals who have experienced homelessness episodically for a total of 12 months over a three year period. Another element of chronic homelessness is living with a disabling condition such as a serious mental illness, substance use disorder, or physical disability. Individuals experiencing chronic homelessness currently represent 19% of the homeless population nationally.
Episodic homelessness describes individuals who have frequent on-and-off periods of homelessness in their life or have been unhoused three times or more within the last year. These individuals often experience chronic unemployment and medical, mental health, and substance use problems.
Transitional homelessness refers to individuals who generally enter the shelter system for only one stay for a short period of time. Typically these individuals have become unhoused because of some catastrophic event and spend a short time in a shelter before making a transition into more stable housing. Transitional homelessness is the most common type of homelessness.
Veteran homelessness is often distinguished as a subcategory of homelessness. Veteran homelessness refers to individuals who have served in the armed forces who experience homelessness or are living without access to secure and appropriate accommodation.
Veterans are at a greater risk of experiencing homelessness than their non-veteran counterparts. They share common risk factors with the rest of the population while also experiencing factors unique to veterans: problematic military discharges, low military pay grade, and social isolation following discharge from the military. There has been significant progress in combating veteran homelessness as a result of dedicated initiatives across the country: veteran homelessness has decreased 39% since 2007 and veterans currently account for approximately 6% of people experiencing homelessness across the country. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as of March 2021, 82 communities and 3 states nationally have announced an end to veteran homelessness; in these instances, an end to veteran homelessness means that systems in these communities can ensure that any type of homelessness is rare, brief, and one-time. While there remains more progress to be made, these successes can provide a path forward for other communities seeking to end veteran homelessness.
Additionally, there is a segment of the population experiencing homelessness who do not appear in official homelessness counts. This population is referred to as the hidden homeless.
Hidden homelessness describes individuals who experience homelessness but find a temporary solution by staying with family or friends, couch surfing, squatting, sleeping in cars, or other insecure accommodation. These individuals do not show up in official homelessness counts because of our inability to accurately identify and measure them.
Read Part 3 in this series to learn more about the categories of homelessness and consider how you might focus your support for mental health and homelessness. To explore working with Mindful Philanthropy on mental health and homelessness, contact us at info@mindfulphilanthropy.org.
