Laying the foundations: addressing heroin use among the ‘street homeless’

Abstract

The lack of secure housing can exacerbate the health problems associated with injecting drug use. The lack of hygiene, security and personal organization that are part of a transient lifestyle increases the tendency towards, and exposure to, risky drug use behaviours with implications for both the drug user and the wider community. However, homeless drug users have little realistic hope of better ‘managing’ drug use without access to secure accommodation as a first step. Drug treatment and health care services are not sufficiently structured to meet the particular needs of homeless individuals. This paper acts as a ‘conduit’ for the words of heroin users to demonstrate, from their perspective, the need for housing provision and the dangers of injecting drug use in marginal living environments. It closes with a short discussion of how housing must be integrated with further support services if users are not to relapse.