Mental health, addiction drive homelessness in West Virginia, study finds

Located under a bridge in Wheeling, W.Va., the parking lot across the street from the Catholic Charities Neighborhood Center has been home to many of the city’s homeless people. That will change soon as the state plans to close and clean the spot. The city has identified another place where unhoused people can be without threat of violating Wheeling’s camping ban. (Daniel Finsley | Finsley Creative for West Virginia Watch)

Many homeless people in West Virginia are long-term residents of the state, a comprehensive study of homelessness released earlier this week found. When people experiencing homelessness move here, it is often for services or to be near loved ones.

The study , completed by the West Virginia University Health Affairs Institute for the Department of Human Services, was mandated by Senate Bill 239 , which passed during the 2023 legislative session.

The bill required the study to be completed and submitted to lawmakers for consideration of legislation relating to the homeless in the state. Bill sponsors did not respond to a request for comment this week.

“It will take some time for state and community leaders to read and understand the report before making policy recommendations based on this study,” Christina Mullins, DoHS deputy secretary of mental health and substance use disorders, wrote in response to written questions about the study. “However, early lessons learned indicate that the West Virginia Department of Human Services (DoHS), Bureau for Behavioral Health (BBH) can continue to assist this population to understand how to access mental health and addiction services.”

According to the study, people experiencing homelessness are concentrated in the state’s larger cities, where services are also most readily available. Service providers agreed that the resources available are not enough to adequately address existing need, the study said.

West Virginia counties where there are restrictive policies like public camping bans, encampment removal and criminalizing trespassing tend to have higher numbers of homeless people, but the study did not determine which caused the other.

A few West Virginia counties with interventional policies meant to help people move out of homelessness or prevent them from becoming homeless had very low numbers of people experiencing homelessness, but there could be other factors affecting populations in these communities, Mullins said.

“While the study identified multiple policies that related to homelessness, data did not support analyses of how these policies affected the numbers of individuals experiencing homelessness,” Mullins wrote.

The study also found that mental health and addiction are “significant drivers” of homelessness, Mullins wrote.

“However, the experiences leading to homelessness were complicated, with individuals often facing a combination of challenges such as domestic violence, abusive childhoods, catastrophic injury, a lack of affordable housing and unemployment,” she said.

The Department of Human Services said the next steps with the study will be to educate “stakeholders” about its findings and listen to feedback.

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The post Mental health, addiction drive homelessness in West Virginia, study finds appeared first on West Virginia Watch .