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Introduction
There is a clear relationship between chronic
homelessness and substance abuse in the United States. Addiction
precipitates and sustains homelessness. Indeed, addiction to drugs (e.g.
alcohol, crack-cocaine, heroin, etc.) inhibits one's ability to work,
destroys families, and endlessly feeds the cycle of homelessness.
There are nearly 1 million homeless men,
women and children in America. (1) The rates of alcohol and drug abuse among
homeless adults is estimated at 65-80 percent. (2)
In addition to the number of people who
become homeless through their own drug addiction, scores of men, women and
children are displaced from their homes due to a drug-addicted parent or
family provider.
Moreover, individuals with substance abuse
problems face the most severe consequences of homelessness. For example, in
an increasingly competitive housing market, the drug and alcohol abusers are
last to qualify for housing benefits and end up on the streets. (3)
In 1992, the federal and state governments
spent $3.4 billion in drug and alcohol treatment and prevention services.
(4) According to Congressional Research Service reports, the average success
rate of federal and state funded treatment centers is approximately 20
percent.
IUGM mission directors understand that
achieving sobriety, for most homeless and poor individuals, can be a major
step towards becoming productive members of society. IUGM missions have
taken leadership in treating drug addicts through effective and
cost-effective rehabilitation programs.
House Action
In March, the House passed a welfare reform
bill (H.R. 4) which denies cash assistance to drug addicts and alcoholics on
the rolls of Supplemental Security Income (SSI). This provision was
established after congressional hearings revealed that SSI benefits for
addicts and alcoholics were often spent "in liquor stores and with the
corner drug dealer." House legislators believe that America's taxpayers
should not be forced to feed a drug addict's self-destructive habit.
Instead, these funds will now be used for the treatment of substance abuse.
(5)
Senate Outlook
Similarly, the Senate proposes to drop drug
addicts and alcoholics from SSI rolls.
Gospel Rescue
Missions: Treatment Works
IUGM missions encounter hundreds of thousands
homeless drug addicts every day. Approximately 79% of the men and 63% of the
women participating in mission rehabilitation have a history of drug abuse.
Their stories are similar: drug addiction helped push them out onto the
streets, cost them their jobs, and forced them to leave their families
behind.
The best way to help put a homeless drug
addict's life back together again is to offer a way out through
comprehensive treatment. The research of most experts in the field indicates
that only slow and costly treatment works in helping addicts achieve full
sobriety. (6)
IUGM missions are rehabilitating addicts at a
low cost and with great success through long-term rehabilitation programs
(3-12 months). Although turnover among alcoholic and addicted participants
is a chronic problem in all types of recovery programs, IUGM missions are
establishing a solid track record of recovering drug and alcohol addicts.
For example, the Gospel Mission of Washington, DC has a 66% success rate in
rehabilitating homeless drug addicts.
What's most essential to successful
rehabilitation, though, is a whole-person approach which treats the
physical, mental, educational and spiritual needs of each person. The
spiritual component of rescue mission rehabilitation helps restore
self-esteem, teach forgiveness and provide a renewed sense of purpose.
Without the spiritual, the individual is left to deal with recovery only
through their own limited emotional resources.
In addition to treatment programs, IUGM
missions offer after-care for recovering addicts, 12-step support groups for
family members of alcoholics and drug addicts, and extended shelter
accommodations for third-party victims of drug and alcohol abuse.
IUGM missions' drug rehabilitation programs
are effective and cost-effective in combatting drug addiction among the
homeless across the nation.
# # # #
(1) The 1990 Annual Report of the Interagency
Council on the Homeless (Washington, DC:
Interagency Council on the Homeless, February 1991), p. 26
(2) A Nation in Denial (Westview Press,
Boulder, CO, 1993)
(3) Addiction on the Streets: Substance Abuse
and Homelessness in America (National
Coalition for the Homeless, February 1992)
(4) State Resources Related to Alcohol and
Other Drug Problems, FY 1992, bU.S. Department
of Health and Human Services.
(5) Associated Press, "House GOP targets cash
to drug, alcohol, addicts," The
Washington Times, January 27, 1995
(6) Associated Press, "Skid Row Missions Deal
with AIDS, Crack," The Washington
Times, May 24, 1991
© Copyright Russ Reid Company September 18,
1995
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