The past week has been a busy one for researchers, here are a few things that we found interesting here at the Homeless Hub:
Tanya Gulliver tackled a good question, with a well thought out answer last Friday on our "Ask the Hub" edition. "I always hear mixed responses to whether you should give homeless people money on the street. Some say it only fuels addiction. What's the best way in your day to day life to help the homeless?" Click here to read the response.
For those of you who aren’t aware August 10th marked Prisoners' Justice Day. Ainsley Cripps from the John Howard Society contributed this insightful guest blog. Highlighting a report by the John Howard Society, Ainsley pointed out that there is a need for more services assisting those who have been released from custody to ensure that they have access to safe and secure housing. “Between ⅓ to ½ of prisoners leave custody with no fixed address.”
A group of researchers released a study from Vancouver involving 293 people who are marginally housed in the Downtown East Side. The study found that there were very high rates of serious illnesses: 18.6% tested positive for HIV and 70.3% for Hepatitis C. This study demonstrates a service gap. You can access the study from the American Journal of Psychiatry, or read more about it in the Vancouver Sun.
Last week’s infographic from the American Institute of Research focused on the connection of trauma and violence for women experiencing homelessness. This is an ongoing problem with street youth where high levels of young women experiencing homelessness reported being victims of crime. This problem has serious repercussions for those with lived experience as well as service delivery.
The Toronto Star featured Alex Abramovich in a story on Alex’s recently completed doctoral dissertation. The study is on the experience of sexual minority youth in the shelter system in Toronto. Alex found that homophobia, and physical abuse is still common within the shelter system. If you’re interested in more, take a look at the chapter by Alex in our free e-book Youth Homelessness in Canada: Implications for Policy and Practice (2013).