The Saratoga County Alliance to End Homelessness has long recognized and advocated that housing is essential to a person’s health and well-being. We have witnessed among the persons we serve every day the higher rates of emotional and physical trauma, chronic conditions, dental issues, behavioral health problems, and exposure to violence when people are unhoused. Homelessness complicates one’s ability to achieve physical safety, engage in medical or behavioral health care, and treat illness and injury. Untreated physical and mental health results in inhumane conditions for the individual. For our health care system, the emergency room (ER) becomes a necessary replacement for the doctor’s office and an ambulance ride to the ER becomes the only mode of transportation to obtain medical attention. For persons living with untreated mental illness, their decompensation is often publicly witnessed, may result in police involvement for the person’s or public’s safety, and an admission to the ER, which has become the replacement for a lack of meaningful and available mental health treatment. All expensive and ineffective outcomes. Members of the Saratoga County Alliance to End Homelessness will continue to advocate at the federal level for the financial investment needed to build more affordable rental housing and supportive housing for the unhoused persons in our community, and continue to point out the obvious, that housing is a health care intervention worthy of investment.
And, while we the housing advocates and providers of homeless services continue our important work in the community, we need partners from other sectors to help meet the needs of our unhoused and vulnerable populations. At this point in time, 40% of all persons living in our emergency shelter and homeless housing programs live with a chronic health condition and 52% live with a mental health disorder - - both of which impede quality of life. CDPHP® is our partner in the health care sector and has stepped up to the plate by collaborating with us to address the health care needs of our clients and providing grants to our community. We want to take this opportunity to point out this good work being done by CDPHP in our community and give the remaining space in this article to Kathy Leyden, CDPHP Vice President of Community Engagement.
CDPHP has a longstanding history of implementing programs that help address social determinants of health, which according to the CDC, are conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, and play, that affect a wide range of health and quality-of life-risks and outcomes. Our care team assesses social determinant of health needs and works closely with local organizations, including those represented on the Saratoga County Alliance to End Homelessness. Together, they link homeless or at-risk CDPHP Medicaid members to critical community-based resources, including housing, case management and prevention services. In early 2021, CDPHP partnered with CARES of NY, a partner in the Saratoga County Alliance to End Homelessness, to initiate the CDPHP COVID-19 Community Support Fund to provide grants to housing and homeless service organizations across the Capital Region. Several Saratoga-based organizations received grants through this fund, including the Salvation Army, Veterans and Community Housing Coalition, and CAPTAIN Community Human Services. These grants have funded a variety of activities including homeless youth outreach, rental assistance, and much needed case management services to support individuals on their path out of homelessness.
CDPHP applauds the many community organizations who remain steadfast in their commitment to ensuring the most vulnerable members of the Saratoga community have access to high-quality services to help address the incredibly complex issue of homelessness. We look forward to growing these types of cross-systems partnerships to build healthier communities
for all.
Find more information about efforts to end homelessness in our community at www.endhomelessnesssaratoga.org.
