Homeless People with Alcohol Problems

Abstract

Although Jimmy may not typify all homeless alcoholics in cities in the United States, his case serves to illustrate how drinking and alcohol abuse play major roles in the personal problems of the homeless. In fact, research studies over the past 50 years estimate the prevalence of alcoholism as somewhere from 20 percent to as high as 50 percent. For example, recent studies conducted in Boston (Garrett and Schutt, 1989), Denver (Atencio, 1982), New York (Barrow and Lovell, 1982), and Oregon (Multnomah County Social Services Division, 1984) estimate that from 30 percent to 50 percent of the homeless have a problem with alcohol abuse or alcoholism. Figures based on similar studies in Ohio (Roth and Bean, 1986), Baltimore (Fischer and Breakey, 1987), Milwaukee (Rosnow, Shaw, Concord, Tucker and Palmer, 1985), Phoenix (Brown, MacFarlane, Paredes, and Stark, 1982), and Los Angeles (Ropers and Robertson, 1984) estimate the prevalence somewhat lower at 20 percent to 30 percent.

“Have you ever had problems due to drinking?” “Do you have any history of a drinking problem?” “Have you ever been admitted to a detox or treatment program because of your drinking?” Jimmy has heard these questions in one form or another a hundred times or more for the past 5 years, and he has come to regard these, as well as his answers, as part of a ritual for admission to a shelter for the homeless.

Jimmy, who has been homeless over 5 years, accepts drinking and drunkenness as a fact of his life. “The doctors told me 9 years ago that booze would send me to an early grave unless I laid down the bottle,” he tells the caseworker during intake at a New York shelter for homeless men. “I’ve been on the wagon; I’ve been in detox; I’ve been in programs and hospitals; I’ve been in jail—I’ve done it all,” he confesses. Now, at age 51, he has been separated from his wife and two children for over 12 years, and his case records show that he has been hospitalized at least five times over the past 24 months for liver disease and alcohol-related accidents. His caseworker says that, “In a way, Jimmy has given up. We see people like Jimmy every day at this shelter.”