What are some of the potential policy and advocacy implications at an institutional,
regional, state, national, and international level?
Homelessness is a national problem that affects every city in the United States.
Homelessness remains a persistent public health problem in the United States. Homeless
individuals experience high rates of chronic mental and physical health illnesses, co-occurring
disorders and impediments to health treatment. Higher eviction rates owing to the loss of jobs
and resources in the COVID19 pandemic economy have resulted in an alarming increase in the
number of persons experiencing homelessness (Ly & Latimer, 2015).
The city of Phoenix stresses leading with services, it realizes that there are distinct
populations experiencing homelessness that require specialized services to fulfill their needs
effectively. Phoenix's mayor and city council adopted additional policies and laws in 2021 to
augment the city's ongoing strategies to address homelessness (Blewett & Owen, 2015).
While interventions to prevent and end homelessness differ by group, permanently
eliminating homelessness necessitates housing along with the types of services provided by US
department of Health and Human Services programs (HHS). HHS is the primary federal agency
responsible for safeguarding the health of all Americans and assisting in the delivery of critical
human services, particularly to those who are least able to help themselves. As a result, the
department's activities include providing treatment and services to the homeless. Coordination of
these services is crucial to achieving the objective of preventing and ending homelessness, both
within the Department and with their Federal partners (Sandberg et al., 2014).
In 2010, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness released Opening Doors:
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, the first federal plan to prevent and end
homelessness. Goals were set to end homelessness among chronically homeless single adults
living on the streets and veterans by 2015, with the additional target of ending family, child, and
youth homelessness by 2020 (Stahre et al., 2015).
References
Blewett, L. A., & Owen, R. A. (2015). Accountable care for the poor and underserved:
Minnesota's Hennepin Health model.<American journal of public health,<105(4), 622–
624. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302432
Ly, A., & Latimer, E. (2015). Housing First Impact on Costs and Associated Cost Offsets: A
Review of the Literature.<Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de
psychiatrie,<60(11), 475–487. https://doi.org/10.1177/070674371506001103
Sandberg, S. F., Erikson, C., Owen, R., Vickery, K. D., Shimotsu, S. T., Linzer, M., Garrett, N.
A., Johnsrud, K. A., Soderlund, D. M., & DeCubellis, J. (2014). Hennepin Health: a
safety-net accountable care organization for the expanded Medicaid
population.<Health affairs (Project Hope),<33(11), 1975–1984.
https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2014.0648
Stahre, M., VanEenwyk, J., Siegel, P., & Njai, R. (2015). Housing Insecurity and the Association
With Health Outcomes and Unhealthy Behaviors, Washington State,
2011.<Preventing chronic disease,<12, E109. https://doi.org/10.5888/pcd12.140511
