Thoughts on Homelessness

Dr. Anita Somani

The Women in Medicine was one of many groups at the CMA who had the honor of hearing Dr. Barry Kerzin speak recently. He spoke on various topics surrounding the science of meditation, compassion in healthcare, and getting back to the "why" of medicine. During our session one of the topics that came up was homelessness. Dr. Kerzin spoke of being homeless as he was unable to go back to India because of the pandemic but he didn’t always feel homeless because of where his heart was and the connection, he had to those he was with here.

I began to think about homelessness from multiple perspectives. Is it having a physical space that is your private space? Is it having a mental or emotional space that makes you feel safe? We all go through transitions like downsizing and letting go of things. Is it difficult because we have to let go of our youth and recognize that we are on the downhill slope of life? Or is it difficult because our roots aren’t as deep as we want them to be?

The pandemic has increased the problem of homelessness here in Columbus as well as around the world. As of January 2020, Ohio had an estimated 10,655 experiencing homelessness on any given day, as reported by Continuums of Care to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Of that total, 906 were family households, 730 were Veterans, 736 were unaccompanied young adults (aged 18-24), and 753 were individuals experiencing chronic homelessness.

Public school data reported to the U.S. Department of Education during the 2017-2018 school year shows that an estimated 34,180 public school students experienced homelessness over the course of the year. Of that total, 374 students were unsheltered, 5,209 were in shelters, 1,958 were in hotels/motels, and 26,639 were doubled up.

These are pre-pandemic statistics so it will be interesting to see how the numbers have changed over the past year. The eviction moratorium was extended but at some point, that will end. So, what can we do as physicians to help our patients who may be on the verge of homelessness? Today the bipartisan part of the infrastructure bill was passed but there is a parallel bill that addresses the soft part of infrastructures like childcare, family and medical leave, climate protection, jobs, and affordable health care. We can talk to our patients and friends about how the government can help us all and how learning about issues is important before we vote. As physicians, we often think being political is not part of our job but when politics affects our patient’s health as it is now with the controversy about masks and vaccines it is even more important to have these discussions.

There are so many bills going through the Ohio House that are anti-women (abortion bills, sanctuary cities), anti-LGTBQ+ (transgender athlete bills), anti-public health (vaccine choice, mask bans), antieducation (critical race theory) which affect our ability to effectively care for patients and can overwhelm our resources like we are seeing now with hospitals reaching capacity again.

Homelessness is also the feeling that we are living in a state where the gerrymandered Statehouse doesn’t represent us. Please get involved with making sure we have fair districts and are less gerrymandered for the next 10 years. Take the time to call or write to your local representatives.