No door to lock: victimization among homeless and marginally housed persons.

BACKGROUND: Homeless persons experience high rates of sexual and physical assault; homeless women are thought to be at highest risk. To determine the prevalence, distribution, and factors associated with sexual and physical assault, we surveyed homeless and marginally housed adults in San Francisco, Calif. METHODS: We interviewed 2577 respondents about their history of recent sexual and physical assault, housing history, sexual practices, substance use, health status, and criminal justice history. The main outcome measures were self-reported sexual and physical assault in the previous 12 months. RESULTS: Overall, 32.3% of women, 27.1% of men, and 38.1% of transgendered persons reported a history of either sexual or physical assault in the previous year; 9.4% of women, 1.4% of men, and 11.9% of transgendered persons reported sexual assault, and 30.6% of women, 26.6% of men, and 33.3% of transgendered persons reported physical assault. In multivariate models, being homeless (as opposed to marginally housed) was associated with sexual assault for women, but not for men (adjusted odds ratio for homeless women, 3.4 [1.2-9.7]). Housing status was not associated with physical assault for women or men. Mental illness and sex work were both common and associated with high rates of assault in multivariate analyses. CONCLUSIONS: Sexual and physical assault are common experiences for homeless and marginally housed persons. Housing is associated with lower rates of sexual assault among women. Strategies to decrease sexual and physical assault and its consequences are needed in this population.

Substance use and separation of homeless mothers from their children.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined whether homeless mothers with substance use problems were more likely to experience separations from their children and whether recent substance use had an impact on the family's ability to receive public entitlement income consistently over the 15-month study period. METHODS: This study used an existing longitudinal data set consisting of a county-wide probability sample of 104 homeless women who had children under 18 years old. RESULTS: Only 29.1% of women had all their children with them throughout the 15-month study period. Mothers who had been separated from their children were more likely to have a current substance use disorder and to have been homeless for at least a year compared to other homeless mothers. CONCLUSIONS: Because many women with recent substance use had already had lost custody of their children, substance use contributed to loss of child custody among mothers who did not have substance use disorders.