Tents set up by people without a home in downtown London. (Credit: Justin Koehler)
Canadians living without a home are spending more time in hospitals and cost the system more than double the amount of people with a place to call home, new research shows.
Last year, nearly 30,000 Canadians were homeless when admitted to hospital. They were hospitalized an average of 15 days and cost an estimated $16,800, compared to 8 days and $7,800 for the national average.
“Housing is health care,” says study co-author Dr. Cheryl Forchuk, Assistant Scientific Director at Lawson Health Research Institute. “Gathering and analyzing this data gives us more tools to find workable solutions to the complex problem of how people experiencing homelessness receive, or don’t receive, the health care they need.”
“What’s most troubling, based on what we know from other research, is that many were discharged into the community without stable housing” adds Dr. Forchuk. “We need to see housing as a health intervention, and an integral part of a health strategy.”
Source: Canadian Institute of Health Information
“In London, we’re in a position to showcase what a community in partnership can do. We’ve done a lot of work to prevent discharge into homelessness, including the City of London and other partners prioritizing housing for people who are discharged from hospital” says Dr. Forchuk.
The three most common reasons for hospitalization among people living without a home are substance use, schizophrenic disorders, and cellulitis (bacterial infection), data shows.
