Homelessness During COVID-19 in the US and Europe

Topics: COVID-19, Homelessness Words: 569 Pages: 2

Rodriguez, N. M., Lahey, A. M., MacNeill, J. J., Martinez, R. G., Teo, N. E., & Ruiz, Y. (2021). Homelessness during COVID-19: challenges, responses, and lessons learned from homeless service providers in Tippecanoe County, Indiana. BMC Public Health, 21(1657), 1-11.

The primary focus of the study is to analyze and assess the homelessness situation in the state of Indiana and the preparedness as well as competence of homeless service providers under the condition of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is disproportionately more impactful on these vulnerable communities. The methodology is based on the community-based participatory research or CBPR, which is a qualitative approach, where the researchers utilized interviews in order to evaluate a wide range of aspects of service providers’ effort in regards to their tasks, objectives, and barriers.

The findings are reflected in nine key lessons derived from the interviews, which are leveraging the pandemic to raise more awareness about homelessness, preparing for impact mitigation in the long term, prioritizing end objectives rather than sole prevention, increasing shelter division resources, expanding outreach measures, tracking and sharing data for enhanced and informed practices, maintaining and expanding telehealth accessibility, providing substance use and mental health services for the target communities, and implementing and improving interagency partnerships (Rodriguez et al., 2021). One of the most interesting elements of the research is the fact that service providers’ willingness to cooperate and collaborate by sharing valuable experiences directly translated into lowering the number of people affected by the infection in the homeless setting. The study is significant since it illuminates and highlights the root cause problems in regards to homelessness under the condition of the pandemic, where the information is directly derived from the experts in the field.

Taylor, O., Loubiere, S., Tinland, A., Vargas-Moniz, M., Spinnewijn, F., Manning, R., Gaboardi, M., Wolf, J. R. L. M., Bokszczanin, A., Bernad, R., Kallmen, H., Toro, P., Ornelas, J., & Auquier, P. (2019). Lifetime, 5-year and past-year prevalence of homelessness in Europe: A cross-national survey in eight European nations. BMJ Open, 9(11), 1-13.

The main purpose of the study is to assess the state and prevalence of homeless on a multinational scale within major European nations. The methodological framework was based on a telephone survey with a comparatively large sample size of 5631 individuals, which makes it quantitative research. The results are indicative of the fact that homelessness prevalence was equal to 0.71%, 1.92%, and 4.96% for the past year, in the past five years, and for a lifetime, respectively (Taylor et al., 2019). On average, individuals most vulnerable to lifetime homelessness were unemployed males aged 45-54 with lower secondary education living in an urban area (Taylor et al., 2019). In addition, there were significant differences between nations, where homelessness was the most prevalent among the young adults in Sweden, Poland, and Ireland. Sweden was the only nation where homelessness was equally affecting both genders, whereas, in other countries, males were the primary victims.

Education also differentially impacted the homeless, but in general, having higher education reduced the risk of becoming homeless. It is important to note that the study is significant since it provides an invaluable perspective on the issue of homelessness by providing key data on different elements of the problem across major European nations. The study can be considered reliable and should serve as a basis for future studies in a similar format but with a higher range, reach, and depth.

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