Factors of Food insecurity within homeless individuals

Food insecurity is a big problem with individuals who are experiencing homelessness. According to the article, Cumulative Risk Factors Associated with Food Insecurity among Adults who Experience Homelessness, It states that within domiciled adults 11.8% experience food insecurity while 25%-59.5% of individuals who are homeless experience food insecurity. Some overlook this within the homeless population because it's hard for us to understand food insecurity and how it comes about. Three factors that can lead to food insecurity within homeless individuals is poor health and risky health behaviors, personal and sexual victimization, and household disruption.

A high portion of the homeless population experience poor physical and emotional health which directly correlates to food insecurity. If one is struggling to achieve basic social expectations than this can lead to a higher risk of depression within this population. Because of poor physical and mental health this can lead to the struggle of practicing lifestyle health behaviors such as planning out meals for them to eat and even thinking about nutritious sources of food. Another factor correlated to food insecurity is alcohol use disorders and addiction. 29%-63% of houseless individuals experience an alcohol use disorder and also smoke cigarettes to cope with the struggles of being homeless. With these problems, some people with highly addictive behaviors will spend their money on alcohol and tobacco rather than gaining a nutritious diet.

Another factor that can lead to food insecurity is personal and sexual victimization. Within women who are homeless, there are more frequent reports of physical or sexual abuse and also withinin homelessness there is a higher possibility of witnessing violence. In homeless individuals that experience sexual and physical abuse there is a lack of legal action which could risk higher probabilities of violence and creates more problems. With living on the streets and trying to fend for yourself some may have no choice but to turn to trading sex for goods such as food, money, shelter and other things. Those individuals who have poor food security are more likely to experience sexual and physical abuse.

Trough experiences during childhood and family disruption and conflict can also lead to increased experiences with food insecurity. There are many children that are put through the foster care system and this has an increasing factor of becoming homeless once they become adults. Because of family conflict this can create the downfall of a child's life to lead them to homelessness and can increase the probability of food insecurity. Also with family conflict and disruption this can lead to incarceration with members of the family and connects to limited employment opportunities, economic mobility and limited earnings.

With these factors it is hard for anyone experiencing these things to have good food security. In order to have good food security you need to think about availability, access, stability, and utilization. Thinking about these factors that i have gone through can help us understand the homeless population and food insecurity and potentially help us find ways to help this problem.


Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6656397/ (Cumulative Risk Factors Associated with Food Insecurity among Adults who Experience Homelessness)