Chronic health conditions such as arthritis (33 per cent), Hepatitis B and C (30 per cent) and asthma (23 per cent) 38 per cent have been assaulted in the past year 52 per cent have been diagnosed with a mental health problem One in three has trouble getting enough to eat 38 per cent cannot get the health care they need 55 per cent visited an emergency department in the past year

In the next phase of their study, the researchers will undertake the first study in Canada to discover how often homeless people get housing and stay housed, and how often the vulnerably housed become homeless - and the health implications of these changes. If the vulnerably housed become homeless, do they use health care more and does their health deteriorate, and if the homeless find homes does their health improve and health care use decrease?

Hwang is a physician in the Centre for Research on Inner City Health at St. Michael's. He leads a group called the Research Alliance for Canadian Homelessness, Housing, and Health (REACH3), which includes some of Canada's leading academic researchers and community organizations with expertise on homelessness. The study of longitudinal changes in the health and housing status of 1,200 homeless and vulnerably houses single adults in Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa is one of REACH3's projects and is known as the Health and Housing in Transition (HHiT) study.

Source: St. Michael's Hospital