WATCH: The number of homeless people dying in Calgary has doubled in a year, hundreds killed by drugs, violence and exposure to the elements. But families are coming forward with questions about how their relatives died and say they believe it's worth a deeper investigation.
“I think most people understand that there is some sort of relationship between mental health disorders and homelessness,” Seitz told Global News. However, he said he isn’t able to directly find a reason why men would have higher rates of mental health disorders compared with women. Seitz speculates that some of the common mental health conditions, such as substance use disorders, tend to be more common in men.
The study also looked at research from low to middle-income countries because homelessness is a common issue around the world. According to Seitz, it’s difficult to study homelessness, especially in those parts of the world. The study said it is crucial to have strategies to address the mental health needs of people experiencing homelessness and effectively support people with mental health disorders to prevent them from experiencing homelessness. Housing-first strategies, which provide housing supports without requiring specific treatments, are effective at improving housing retention but “demonstrate mixed results” for reducing substance use and improving mental health.
The psychiatrist and researcher said he wants more academics to look at ways to better use data on mental illnesses and homelessness to understand the issue in more detail. Right now, the data is in different sectors and it’s hard to look at both issues together.