Most of us tend to think that alcohol and drug addicts become
homeless very easily, but this is usually not the case. However, if one is
addicted to drugs and/or alcohol and is poor, then they are at a much
greater risk of succumbing to poverty. The implication here is that, contrary to common belief, most
drug and alcohol addicts are housed.
If someone is addicted and truly desires to rid themselves of the
addiction, as most people do, they need the proper treatment. The
treatments and services that these recovering addicts require usually
involve very high fees, which can even be a problem for people from a
financially stable home.
According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, 3.5 million
Americans, half of all homeless people, have a drug or alcohol problem.
Sadly, there aren't enough treatment centers for the addicted
homeless. The Coalition found that 80% of the local treatment
centers had to turn people away. With this extremely high number of
homeless addicted, why are there not more services for them? It has been
shown that majority of homeless addicts that enter a treatment program
usually end up in temporary or permanent housing. A prime example is the
Salvation Army's Harbor House in St. Louis, MO. The Harbor House has two
treatment programs, and 75% of their graduates move on to get stable jobs
and secure housing. Another example can be found in Washington, D.C. The "Clean and
Sober Streets" program there deals with drug and alcohol rehabilitation, and
reports that 70% of their graduates move into homes of their own and stay
clean after graduation. In Chicago's O'Hare Outreach Program for homeless
men, 75% of their graduates obtain housing for themselves.
Health insurance is not something homeless people possess. Usually,
without a stable address, they are not eligible for Medicade. Since most of
these homeless addicts do not have financial resources, their chances
of getting help are very slim. Fewer than half of the homeless addicts that
need treatment get it, and if they are given treatment, it usually is not
the type of help they can use because of their homeless status. Programs
like the Harbor House and the O'Hare Outreach Program, as well as many
others, have extremely long waiting lists. Even if homeless people are
lucky enough to get onto a waiting list, without an address,
phone number, or a definitive way to be contacted, the yprobably won't even
know when there is an opening in the program. Consequently, they
are dropped from the waiting list.
As it can be clearly seen, if there were more treatment programs,
the number of homeless people would most likely decline. However, this is not
likely to happen. In March of 1996, President Clinton signed Public law
104-121 into effect. This law puts further restrictions on Social Security
Income, Social Security Disability Income, and Medicade Disability Benefits.
It is estimated that the signing of this law alone immediately made 40,000
more people homeless and the overall number of homeless people will
continue to grow by approximately 50,000 people per year.
Substance Abuse 