How are Homelessness and Mental Health linked?
Homelessness is not just the consequence of one thing. There are many factors and life opportunities that lead to being in a state of homelessness. For example, a loss of a job, a family and support network breakdown, an illness or a life changing event. Mental Health is another factor that is commonly seen. Crisis UK found that 45% of people experiencing homelessness have been diagnosed with a mental health issue.
When researching Homelessness, Mental Health is often brought up. Stereotypically, the link is that those who are homeless struggle with poor mental health. When you look deeper into the link, poor mental health can be both the cause and consequence of homelessness.
Poor Mental Health causing Homelessness:
Among the many causes of homelessness, there is poor mental health. I will be discussing two main ways that poor mental health can push someone into homelessness.
One way is in the circumstance of someone already facing poor mental health. In this case, the individual already struggles with day to day tasks and withdraws from society. They may struggle to stay in employment due to their mental health. This reduces their stability and income drastically. The individual would therefore be living in poverty and be classed as vulnerable.
All it takes now to become homeless is to lose a support network, as this reduces the resources they use to cope. These resources could simply be someone to talk to, or someone who is helping them sort out Universal Credit/PIP. If these resources are lost and the mental health of the individual declines, or an unexpected negative event occurs, the individual will be pushed one step closer to homelessness.
Another circumstance is that of an individual who does not suffer poor mental health until other factors that lead to homelessness start to build. For example; poverty, eviction, job loss and health issues.
The person’s ability to cope and carry out daily tasks can easily be impaired once other factors get involved. The motivation to get employment will soon leave after multiple job losses and difficulties finding jobs. This leads to unemployment and then poverty. The struggles that poverty comes with can be unbearable. The day-to-day hunt for basic needs such as food and money to pay for heating and bills.
Housing struggles can come from this, such as unsafe accommodation due to black mould or broken utilities. If children are involved, the Caregivers will have the worry and stress that they are not in safe conditions. Sickness can arise from lack of nutrition, sleep, warmth and excessive stress. If the individual was still in employment or education, they could now have to face losing it.
All these factors will add more stress, worry and fear to the individual and will break down their resilience. Any coping mechanisms they once had will be pushed to the boundaries, as the struggles they are facing are far superior to what they have been before. There may be shame involved in poverty and/or job loss; therefore, the individual could have distanced themselves from family and friends. This leaves no one to turn to for help.
This has now led to the individual suffering with poor mental health. This alone will place them at a higher risk of homelessness and will impair their judgement on decisions that could prevent it from happening. Such as contacting the local council or charities for mental health. This is because they cannot focus on the opportunities, but only on the loss and despair.
With the housing crisis we are in, if the individual with poor mental health is then subjected to a Section 21 (no fault eviction), they will have no choice but to be without a home and most likely have no motivation to then find any other suitable place, while also being unable to afford the rent rates. Under the Housing Act 1988, there is a Section 21 notice that allows Landlords to evict tenants without needing any reasons.
Overall, mental health can leave someone withdrawed, lack resilience and clear thinking. So, when life then throws other struggles and factors at them, they cannot be resourceful or fall back on support networks. Leaving them at an even higher risk of being homeless.
Poor Mental Health as a consequence of Homelessness:
The experiences and trauma that people facing homelessness must deal with leads to poor mental health. This only makes it harder for them to cope and can keep them in the repetitive cycle of homelessness, with the feeling of no way out. If you are homeless, the stress that you face every day is unmanageable. The not knowing where you will be sleeping, where you will get food and if you will be safe puts a big mental drain on you. This links to Maslow’s Hierarch of Needs, the basic physiological needs of everyone are food, water and breathing. If you are homeless you are fighting to receive these needs every day.
This stress encourages the use of substances. Substance abuse is strongly correlated to mental health struggles. This is seen in Dual Diagnosis studies, where they have found the cycle of substance abuse and depression is a repetitive cycle which is very hard to break. Dual diagnosis is a term to describe someone struggling with both mental illness and substance abuse.
If you are rough sleeping, you are stuck living in constant fear of your life. Rough sleeping can lead to being involved in many traumatic experiences, and no one to discuss them with. A traumatized person, especially one who is still not safe, will have anxiety and be living in a constant state of ‘fight or flight’. This physical drain will lead to tiredness and put an even higher pressure on their mental health.
It can feel very isolating when you are homeless, therefore amplifying poor mental health. Those who are homeless need safety, housing and a supportive circle. All of these have already been broken down so can be viewed as impossible to the individual. Even when someone is placed in temporary accommodation, which could be seen as one step closer to secure housing, they will still feel unstable.
Furthermore, temporary accommodation can be far away from support networks, so the feeling of isolation is still surrounding you.
Another way that homelessness can lead to poor mental health is the unknown future. Humans have hope because they can see a possible good outcome of a situation. If you are homeless, you would be wondering if you will make it through another night, let alone getting out of homelessness. This lack of hope leads to further depression. It can be hard to engage with services that are reaching out to you, if you only view the future in a negative way.
What can be done to break this cycle?
For those facing homelessness and poor mental health, an all-around support service must be provided. Support for one factor will not benefit the person to the full extent possible. If someone is placed in accommodation, without any mental health support, they will still struggle and may even fall back into homelessness. For example, if habits of substance abuse carry on then the individual will not benefit from the living situation, as much as they could if they were put in drug and alcohol services, given mental health support and supported into the transition of being housed.
The stigma around mental health also needs to be removed for the cycle to be broken. People need to feel like they are safe and in a non-judgmental environment so they can open up about their experience of being homeless and their struggles. If this is not normalised, they will still be still dealing with their negative thoughts alone.
Resilience needs to be built back up, so individuals can face challenges thrown at them. This also encourages the development of coping mechanisms again, so the individual can see a way of dealing with the challenge rather than seeing no hope.
Support like this is provided at Newbury Soup Kitchen. The support we provide is catered to the whole person: physically, emotionally, and socially. We spend quality time with people who need support, encouragement, and empathy which helps to improve our clients situation and future. We work to gain trust, building relationships that encourage growth in confidence and enable individuals to make better life decisions.