Health Care Needs of Young Adults Who Have Experienced Homelessness

Abstract

Introduction: Young adults experiencing homelessness have poorer overall health compared with the general population. However, not much is known about how health care needs may change in the transition from homelessness to supportive housing. This study utilizes the Gelberg-Andersen Behavioral Model for Vulnerable Populations to examine unmet health care needs among young adults currently experiencing homelessness and formerly homeless young adults living in supportive housing.

Methods: This study includes data from 192 young adults who were either residing in a supportive housing program (n=103) or were "unhoused" (eg, residing on the street, staying in emergency shelters; n=89) in Los Angeles, CA, between 2017 and 2019. Hierarchical modeling examined unmet health care needs and factors that may enable those needs to be met, controlling for predisposing and other need factors.

Results: Controlling for predisposing and other need characteristics, this study identified increased enabling factors among those residing in supportive housing, the most widely applied intervention for homelessness. Participants who resided in supportive housing were more likely to report at least 1 type of unmet need than youth who did not have access to housing. Additional findings regarding the association of enabling factors and unmet need yield mixed results based on the type of unmet need.

Discussion: The acknowledgment of unmet needs may, in fact, be a byproduct of shifting priorities, which often occurs in the transition from homelessness to housing. Understanding the unmet need and health implications of this transition has relevance for practice as we work to better support formerly homeless young adults in meeting the needs that they identify.