The first national calculation of mortality of the US homeless population – Vox EU

“We find that people who have experienced homelessness face 3.5 times the mortality risk of people who are housed, accounting for differences in demographic characteristics and geography (Figure 1). This disparity far exceeds the mortality gap between Black and white housed individuals (relative hazard of 1.4) and between poor housed and all housed individuals (2.2). Looking at mortality risk over the life cycle reveals another striking finding: a 40-year-old homeless person faces similar mortality risk to a housed person nearly twenty years older (Figure 2). By 2022, about 16% of those who were homeless in 2010 had passed away, compared to just 6% of the housed poor sample and 4% of the overall housed sample.”

Assuming that homeless people tend to be the poorest of the poor, the study confirms the linear relationship between income and life span. Homelessness was also found to have delayed effects on health and mortality.

Future research: What are the implications for the 2.7 million residents of Gaza where 80% have been forced from their homes during the current conflict?