A supplemental issue of the American Journal of Public Health out this week discusses public health efforts and homelessness through a host of perspectives including homelessness among families and veterans and various housing, health care and job interventions for the homeless.The breadth of coverage in the issue highlights homelessness as a concern that still affects communities across the U.S., particularly in ensuring health and wellness for individuals living without homes.Collectively, the issue’s collection of research, commentaries and briefs discuss the history of homelessness in the U.S., monitor trends in homelessness and investigate potential mitigating factors associated with homelessness. The supplemental issue was developed with support from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veteran Health Administration and VA National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans.Highlighted papers from the issue include the following:
- Housing Instability and Mental Distress among U.S. Veterans
- Twenty Five Years of Child and Family Homelessness: Where Are We Now?
- Cooking, Healthy Eating, Fitness and Fun (CHEFFs): Qualitative Evaluation of a Nutrition Education Program for Children Living at Urban Family Homeless Shelters
- Housing Retention in Single-Site Housing First for Chronically Homeless Individuals with Severe Alcohol Problems
- Substance-Use Disorders and Poverty as Prospective Predictors of First-Time Homelessness
- Resource-Limited, Collaborative Pilot Intervention for Chronically Homeless, Alcohol-Dependent Frequent Emergency Department Users
- Opportunities for Engaging Low-Income, Vulnerable Populations in Health Care: A Systematic Review of Homeless Persons’ Access to and Use of Information Technologies
- And more