7d (edited) • General discussion
Housing Is Health: Why Anniston’s Homelessness Problem Is Also a Public Health Issue
Homelessness is not just a housing issue.
It is not just a safety issue.
It is absolutely a public health issue—especially here in Anniston.
When people are unhoused, the entire community feels the health impacts:
• Higher rates of untreated chronic illness
• Increased emergency room use
• Greater exposure to infectious disease
• Mental health crises without consistent care
• Substance use driven by trauma, not morality
• Shorter life expectancy—by decades
This isn’t accidental. It’s structural.
In Anniston, we already live with:
• Legacy pollution and environmental trauma
• Limited access to healthcare and behavioral health services
• Intergenerational poverty tied to disinvestment
• Few crisis stabilization or supportive housing options
When housing is unstable, health becomes unstable.
When health is unstable, public spaces absorb the crisis—parks, libraries, sidewalks, ERs, jails.
That’s not a failure of individuals.
That’s a failure of systems.
Public health teaches us something simple but powerful:
👉🏾 You don’t solve homelessness with fear or exclusion.
👉🏾 You solve it with housing + healthcare + harm reduction + prevention.
Evidence-based solutions exist:
• Supportive housing
• Mobile health and mental health teams
• Community health workers
• Crisis response that isn’t law enforcement
• Prevention through affordable housing and income stability
If Anniston wants safer neighborhoods, healthier families, and less strain on emergency services, we have to stop treating homelessness as a nuisance—and start treating it as the public health emergency it is.
Healthy communities don’t push people out of sight.
They build systems that keep people alive.
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Housing Is Health: Why Anniston’s Homelessness Problem Is Also a Public Health Issue
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