Why do homeless people drink alcohol

She says the people they are hoping to help have often been in and out of existing addiction programs - some up to 80 times - and are not getting the help they need. The proposed Managed Alcohol Program MAP , based on similar programs in Canada, would aim to help some of the city's most at-risk homeless residents. Dr Ezard says getting these people access to a place to sleep and other services would cut down on costs associated with emergency room visits, police contact, court costs and jail time.

You can provide food, hygiene and homes, which promote health as well. The small body of research on MAPs that does exist shows that providing a controlled amount of alcohol over time can also reduce the overall amount consumed by participants each day.

Canada is the only country that is currently running MAPs and social scientists there have been studying the impact on Canadian participants.

Tim Stockwell, director at the Centre for Addictions Research of British Columbia, has done intensive research on managed alcohol programs in Canada and he says early findings are positive. But Dr Stockwell warns that programs like these are complicated. It's harm reduction," he says. But he acknowledges that there will be hurdles to implementing the plan. Convincing the public to use taxpayer money to give free alcohol to homeless alcoholics be an uphill battle.

Dr Ezard acknowledges that her proposal will be met with opposition, but says Australia needs to be more creative with solutions for alcohol abuse. Homeless individuals who abuse alcohol are reported to remain homeless for longer amounts of time than sober homeless people. Co-occurring disorders , mental disorders that are present alongside alcoholism, in the homeless population are directly related to alcohol and drug abuse.

Bipolar disorder , schizophrenia , anxiety, and depression in the homeless population are all linked to drug and alcohol abuse. Homeless veterans reported high numbers of PTSD due to experiences in combat. For homeless veterans, of whom more are men than women, lack of housing and family support can additionally create feelings of hopelessness, which can cause many to further spiral into alcoholism.

Women and families make up the fastest growing group of the homeless population. Homeless women abusing alcohol tend to be single homeless women compared to homeless women with children. Many homeless women have experienced trauma in their lives and retreat to the streets. It is estimated: 40 percent of homeless women in shelters have reported rape or sexual assault. Such conditions can create or worsen anxiety, self-blame, anger, depression, and feelings of paranoia for homeless women both with or without families.

Alcohol is widely used on the streets in homeless populations, making the decision to stop a truly difficult one. The difficulty of living on the streets away from family members and traumatic experiences can worsen alcohol use. Many treatment facilities open to treating homeless people with substance abuse problems provide shelter and access to medicines, along with nutritional meals. Being homeless in a shelter provides safety and a lesser likelihood of substance abuse and exposure to drugs and alcohol.

Getting help is not impossible. Contact a treatment provider today. It could save your life. Learn more about David Hampton. Abram, Susan. Tsai, Jack. Rosenheck, Robert A. Homelessness and Housing. Many spend most of their time confined to their rooms, which are locked to prevent other residents wandering in. The hostel's senior practitioner, Sonja Sullivan, explains that the whiff in the corridor outside their rooms is because the residents have become doubly incontinent as a result of their drinking.

Many wander round the communal areas, all with cans in hand, some slumped against the walls in corridors. Their alcohol dependence is so serious that if they were told they could not drink here they would simply leave and head back to their old haunts on the streets. This a place of extremes, where most of the residents have come after becoming homeless as the result of catastrophic personal trauma — prison, offending, abuse and bereavement as well as drug and alcohol addiction.

Paul Cachia, alcohol case worker with the charity Foundation 66 , runs tailored sessions at Graham House, warning the residents of the dangers of long-term drinking and helping those who make the crucial decision to accept professional help. You have to be realistic about what they can achieve.

For many it is about harm minimisation or reduction, and this is where the problem with super-strength comes in. The cheap price is, of course, key to the attraction of the super-strength drinks. As a condition of its licence, the new Emerald supermarket opposite the hostel agreed not to stock alcohol stronger than 6. The charity is also backing a recent initiative in which retailers are voluntarily destocking their shelves — the first of its kind in the UK.

Ideally, he would like a major supermarket to "take a stand" on the issue. Accepting that a complete ban of super-strength alcohol may be unrealistic, Thames Reach is calling on the government to increase the tax on the most harmful products, perhaps offset by taxing weaker ones less. It also believes the drinks industry and wholesale companies need to regulate themselves more responsibly — and if they fail, should be regulated by others.

Significantly, after a visit to the hostel two years ago, brewery giant Heineken halted the production of its super-strength ciders.