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Researchers, led by Professor Senior Fazel at the University of Oxford alongside colleagues in Copenhagen and Aarhus in Denmark, looked at links between homelessness, psychiatric disorders and violent offending.
The study of more than 1.7 million Denmark residents showed that within 10 years of their first contact with a homeless shelter, 22.9% of men and 7.7% of women has committed at least one violent crime leading to conviction – which was significantly higher than those who were not homeless.
Homeless people with co-occurring psychiatric conditions, especially drug misuse, were at an even greater risk of committing violent crimes.
Homeless people often have high rates of trauma and adverse life experiences, particularly in childhood, and substance misuse which can also be associated with higher rates of violence.
Professor Fazel said:
Our results suggest that public health and policy should consider preventing and reducing rates of homelessness as part of violence prevention initiatives, as well as early treatment of mental illness and substance misuse in people experiencing homelessness.
Given homelessness is associated with poor health and social outcomes, public health and policy should consider how to reduce the risk of adverse outcomes in people experiencing homelessness.
There is also a need to understand and address traumatic experiences better in people experiencing homelessness, which might also prevent at-risk individuals from experiencing homelessness in the first place.”
The authors suggest investing in services that support people at risk of becoming homeless, particularly for people discharged from psychiatric hospitals or released from prison, could be one way of preventing homelessness. They also argue that homelessness shelters could be potentially important settings for offering support such as healthcare, and treatment for substance misuse and mental health conditions.
Professor Fazel added: “Key drivers of the association between experiencing homelessness and violent offending include mental illness, particularly with co-occurring substance use disorders. Thus, services targeted at people experiencing homelessness need to address these overlapping needs.”