Study: Housing insecurity common among patients at community health centers
Housing instability is a common problem for patients who regularly seek care at community health centers, according to a new study.
Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP) and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, reviewed survey data on more than 3,100 adults at community health centers and found that 44% reported a history of housing issues, according to the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Of those surveyed, 1.2% said they were currently homeless, a rate about seven times higher than that estimated among the general population, according to the study. Twenty-seven percent said they were “unstably housed,” meaning they had moved two or more times in the previous year or had been unable to pay their rent or mortgage at any time in the past.
