Investing in Public Health Infrastructure to Address the Complexities of Homelessness

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 18; no. 16; p. 8887
• Main Authors: Allegrante, John P., Sleet, David A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 23.08.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Affordable housing; Community; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Decentralization; Federal government; GDP; Gross Domestic Product; Health care access; Health services; Homeless people; Homeowners; Humans; Hurricanes; Ill-Housed Persons; Infrastructure; Mental disorders; Pandemics; Population; Poverty; Public Health; SARS-CoV-2; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Social policy; Society; Unemployment; Water supply; Minnesota; United States > US; Texas; Flint River; environment; social determinants of health; poverty; homelessness; infrastructure; public health
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18168887

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.