Running

Head: THE HOMELESS POPULATION

The Vulnerable Homeless Population

Jamie L. Wertz
Ferris State University

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The Vulnerable Homeless Population

The homeless population is a very underserved, vulnerable population. Seeing
men, women, children and elderly persons standing on the side of the road holding up
signs that say Hungry Veteran, Will Work for Food or Father and Mother of Five,
Anything Helps, God Bless is very difficult to understand. My heart pours out in
empathy but then, to be very honest, pulls back because I tend to always question their
motive. The homeless population seems to take on a stereotypical role of the people
without homes standing on the side of the road begging for money because they want to
buy booze or drugs with it. As unfair as that statement is, I cant help but constantly
perceive the homeless in this way at times.
Demographics
Homelessness doesnt just happen overnight. It takes time for economic and
housing trends to impact trends in homelessness (The State of Homelessness in America,
2014, p. 5). The homeless population consists of men, women, families, children, elderly,
and veterans. Anyone could be homeless at any time. An underserved population is
defined as a subgroup of the population that has a higher risk of developing health
problems because of a greater exposure to health risk because of marginalization in
sociocultural status, access to economic resources, age or gender (Harkness, 2012, p.
334). More than 610,000 people accounted for were homeless on a single night. The
majority of the homeless population was comprised of individual adults (387,845
people), 222,197 people in 70,960 households were people in families, and almost 92,600
people were considered chronically homeless as individuals, consisting of those living

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with a disability and staying in shelters or on the streets for a long period of time (The
State of Homelessness in America, 2014, p. 11).
There are many reasons why homelessness occurs. A few reasons include
mainstreaming the mentally ill into society, unemployment and underemployment,
domestic violence, abandonment, natural disasters, disability, substance abuse, and
immigration (Harkness, 2012).
Each homeless person is at a greater risk of health disparities because they do not
have the same access to health care as those who are not homeless. This population is
very vulnerable. According to our community health textbook, vulnerability is defined as
lacking the resources needed to be able to take ownership of ones own health, along with
a greater need to relay on others to solve their health complications (Harkness, 2012).
Although the United States is experiencing a current decrease in homelessness,
low-income populations are still at risk. Low-income persons are typically paying half of
their income for housing despite economic improvements in unemployment and the
overall economy beginning to recover from a recession (The State of Homelessness,
2014).
Stereotypes
Making assumptions about homeless populations can affect how we care for them
in the health care settings. Some stereotypes associated with homelessness include
laziness, substance abusers, beggars, or those that take advantage of the very systems set
in place funded by tax dollars. However, according to an article in the New York Times,
those very beggars actually do have jobs. Some people are homeless because they
choose to do without government or private aid and a growing number of them are the

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working poor who have to beg on the side of the road for money because they are trapped
between two jobs that pay too little and housing that costs too much (Schmalz, 1988).
Of the more than 610,000 homeless persons on the streets, about 18 percent could
be described as mentally ill, and anyone experiencing homelessness is at a greater risk for
experiencing depression, anxiety or addiction (Stand, 2013). For the most vulnerable
homeless, access to proper mental health care is a larger factor in combating these mental
health diseases. Those homeless who obtained Medicaid coverage were better able to
access health care services and therefore, suffered less from depression and had fewer
financial worries (Stand, 2013).
Self-Reflection
Its unfortunate that most view the homeless as drunks, drug users, or
criminals because thats not always the case. Many stigmas exist because people
simply dont know a homeless persons walk in life and they dont care to. Because
society has put such labels correlating with homelessness in our minds, its difficult to
trust that when money is being handed out of car windows to these men and women
holding their words of need of vulnerability on an old cardboard box, that that money is
really going toward five starving children or toward saving up for a new life off the
streets. One particular homeless man I passed by on the streets in Indianapolis held up a
sign saying, Its for beer. A part of me appreciated the fact that he wasnt lying about
what the money would go toward, but the other part of me was sickened that this was his
life and it probably wouldnt be any better than that truth he held up on that sign.
At the end of the day, each person, no matter where they live or whether or not
they have health insurance, deserves the same treatment in health care that those of us

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who are not homeless have access to. Its not our place as health care givers to judge a
persons state-of-being when they come to seek care. The point is that they deserve a
chance to get better and not suffer through an illness, even if that means they are just
going to get better and return to the streets to continue to drink or do drugs. Not all
homeless are the same. Not all choose this lifestyle. Therefore, its not up to us to judge
the homeless. Its up to me as a health care professional to not discriminate, to give the
best quality of care possible, and hope that I play some part in making someones life a
little better.

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6
References

6 Things I Want You To Understand About Being Homeless in America (2014, July 8).
In National Coalition for the Homeless. Retrieved November 18, 2014, from
http://nationalhomeless.org/tag/stereotypes/
Harkness, G.A. (2012). Community and public health nursing practice: Evidence for
practice. Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins
Schmalz, J. (1988, December). Defying Popular Stereotypes, Many of Homeless Have
Jobs. In The New York Times. Retrieved November 18, 2014, from
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/19/us/defying-popular-stereotypes-many-ofhomeless-have-jobs.html
Stand, L. (2013, October 10). Homelessness and Mental Health: Moving Past Sterotypes.
In National Alliance to End Homelessness. Retrieved November 18, 2014, from
http://www.endhomelessness.org/blog/entry/homelessness-and-mental-healthmoving-past-stereotypes1#.VGvEQyj5hUR
The State of Homelessness in America. (2014). In National Alliance to End
Homelessness. Retrieved from
http://b.3cdn.net/naeh/d1b106237807ab260f_qam6ydz02.pdf