Located in the heart of Atlanta, researchers at Georgia State University’s School of Public Health saw the homelessness surrounding their campus. As public health scientists in an urban academic center, the researchers thought they could help area agencies serving people who are homeless go beyond meeting their clients’ daily needs by studying homelessness as a public health concern.
Last week, the School of Public Health announced its new Center on Health and Homelessness, which will train students to help Atlanta community partners who are serving people experiencing homelessness. GSU public health researchers will evaluate and try to enhance existing community programs and policies that address the health of those without homes. The researchers will seek ways to prevent and improve health conditions associated with homelessness.
Nearly 3,000 people in Atlanta are considered homeless, a 7% increase from 2023, according to data collected by Partners for HOME for the Atlanta Continuum of Care, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program promoting community efforts to end homelessness.
“People experiencing homelessness have high rates of chronic mental and physical health conditions such as depression, anxiety, diabetes and heart disease,” said Shannon Self-Brown, co-leader of the new center. “These health challenges result from various factors, including lack of access to adequate health care (and) basic needs like food and protection from violence, as well as experienced racism and discrimination,” said Self-Brown, who is also chair of GSU’s Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences.
As part of the center’s initiatives, its leaders said GSU graduate students may help partner organizations collect data on food security or resources for effective mental health treatment. The center reported that students might evaluate mobile health care that delivers medicine to people where they live; explore harm reduction services that offer medicine such as fentanyl test strips and naloxone to prevent drug-related overdoses; and take part in peer programs that provide emotional and social support to those with similar experiences.
“I think homelessness is a public health crisis,” said Cathryn Vassell, CEO of Partners for Home, the main coordinator of efforts to end homelessness in Atlanta. “Having a local academic partner in this work could be beneficial.”
Vassell welcomed the opportunity to have localized data and research on homelessness, such as risk factors predicting who is likely to become homeless. Those risks could include having very low income, prior evictions or mental health challenges, Vassell said.
Other predictors of homelessness include vacancy rates, affordable housing and exposure to violence, trauma, mental health and addiction, she added. Research could also look at racial equity and disparities, the cost to support homelessness in Atlanta and savings from rehousing someone locally, Vassell said.
“This is a major issue our city has been dealing with, but it was particularly hard during the pandemic and with the cost of living increasing,” said GSU center co-leader April Ballard, an assistant professor of environmental health in the Department of Population Health Sciences. For instance, one of the public health concerns that emerged during the pandemic was how to maintain good hygiene through hand-washing, she said. Other public health matters associated with homelessness involve substance abuse, trauma, water and sanitation.
The leaders of the new center contacted more than 30 organizations in the city that serve people who are homeless to partner with GSU students and faculty and tackle some of the issues. “We want to know more about how existing services help people and areas where we can offer academic support that can lead to improvements in the health of individuals who lack housing,” Ballard said.
Self-Brown said the school is creating curriculum to train grad students to conduct needs assessments that identify strengths and gaps in existing public health programs and policies. “Ultimately, it’s a learning and training opportunity for the next-generation workforce to intervene in homelessness and cycles of poverty and health and well-being.”
Connecting with partner organizations serving the homeless population also gives graduate students, guided by GSU faculty, a chance to practice their public health learning and skills, center leaders said.
GSU joins a handful of other academic research centers around the country who have similar programs focused on health and housing. Ballard said a few of those programs served as a model for the Atlanta center, specifically the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at the University of California San Francisco and The Center for Housing and Homelessness Research at the University of Denver.
The GSU center is funded by agrant from College of Law graduate and philanthropist Catherine Henson, who also served on the Georgia Board of Education. The amount of the grant was not disclosed.
2024 Snapshot of Homelessness in Atlanta
Some highlights from Partners for HOME’s latest survey of homelessness in Atlanta:
- 67% reported having a disability
- 48% of adults have a serious mental illness
- 40% have a substance abuse disorder
- 37% are receiving treatment for their reported conditions
- 35% are older than 55
- 25% are women or girls
Source: PIT Count – Partners for HOME
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