OPINION: Problems with Anchorage’s approach to homelessness

As temperatures drop and winter quickly approaches, I grow increasingly concerned about the city’s methods for caring for the homeless population based on what I have witnessed as an Anchorage resident and a nursing student.

As I work with people who are experiencing homelessness in the hospital, one pattern is consistent: Many of these patients come from complicated backgrounds in which multiple factors contribute to homelessness. These factors include childhood circumstances, pre-existing health conditions, sudden financial security or health changes, physical disabilities, and many others. However, very often, homelessness is painted as a result of personal failings rather than a systemic issue in which people do not have the resources they need to access housing.

Conversations about homelessness are often centered around the opinions and perceptions of people who are not homeless, while the people who are experiencing homelessness are rarely included in these conversations. As a result, these policies are often short-term or reactionary, such as emergency action plans for the upcoming winter, offering flights out of state or punitive actions. These methods are not only expensive, but they are also ineffective. Their inability to protect the homeless community risks individuals’ safety while also placing the burden on health care workers to compensate for a lack of action.

At the hospital, I see numerous patients who are experiencing homelessness come in because of severe cold-weather injuries, unmanaged illnesses, trauma, addiction and mental health crises. Many of these problems can be avoided if these patients have access to preventative care and basic needs such as medication and shelter. Instead, they come to the hospital to get medical attention for a problem that will most likely require lifelong care that they may not have the resources to maintain effectively. Additionally, the health care staff becomes exhausted because their patient loads increase beyond what they can safely handle.

I want to make myself clear: The problem is not that individuals experiencing homelessness are being treated at the hospital. People who are experiencing homelessness deserve the same access to and quality of health care as people who are not. The problem is that hospitals often bear the burden of a community with insufficient resources such as mental health services, addiction programs, housing-first programs, etc. Additionally, when it comes time to discharge patients, outpatient centers such as assisted living or mental health facilities are so limited that patients end up waiting months for an opening or are turned back out onto the street. This creates a significant, unsustainable backlog of patients in a hospital that does not have enough staff or beds to care for every patient properly.

Time and time again, research shows that investing in preventative measures for homelessness is much more cost-effective than reactionary measures. Redirecting investments from reactive measures to housing-first programs, mental health services and substance abuse treatment facilities significantly decreases the risk of hospitalization, thereby relieving the strain on hospital resources and helping people who are experiencing homelessness reestablish themselves so they may lead healthier lives.

Chloe Weiss is an Anchorage resident and nursing student who has experienced Anchorage’s homelessness issues through her work in health care.

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