Pubdate: Wed, 20 Jul 2016
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2016 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Trisha Thadani

HOUSING IS SEEN AS MISSING LINK IN OPIOID CRISIS

It would be foolish to expect an addict - straight out of jail, 
treatment, or both - to find a sober night's sleep under a bridge, 
said Jared Owen, a man in recovery.

With not enough housing options in the state, Owens said recovering 
addicts are frequently left with the forlorn question, "What now?"

On Tuesday, public and private sector leaders from across New England 
and upstate New York convened in Boston to talk about substance abuse 
in their states, and how comprehensive housing programs could help 
curb the crisis.

Marylou Sudders, the state's secretary of health and human services, 
called for an increased focus in Massachusetts on supportive housing 
programs, which combine affordable housing and services that help 
smooth recovery process.

"We need to focus more on the path to recovery, which is really 
bringing together housing and treatment and employment," Sudders 
said. "One of the biggest challenges for individuals . . . is finding 
a safe, drug-free environment to recover in."

Sudders told the crowd of about 60 New England public health 
officials that comprehensive housing should be at the forefront of 
the battle against opioid abuse, which has ravaged Massachusetts, 
claiming the lives of an average of four residents a day.

According to the Corporation for Supportive Housing, the nonprofit 
that hosted the event, homeless adults between the ages of 25 and 44 
in New England were nine times more likely to die from an overdose 
than those with stable housing.

"While the scope of this epidemic is uniquely broad, affecting people 
across all ages, genders, geographies, races, and socioeconomic 
status, its effects are particularly notable and distressing among 
individuals experiencing homelessness," the Corporation for 
Supportive Housing said in a statement.

Sudders said jails and the streets are too often the primary living 
option for adults struggling with addiction.

As a result, she said, the state's opioid epidemic should have hardly 
been a surprise.

"In many ways, we should have seen it coming," she said. "Folks 
working on the streets and who lived on the streets, and families saw 
it far before the state and health care providers -- except for those 
that are first-responders."

Last year, 1,526 people in Massachusetts died from opioid-related 
overdoses, according to the state Department of Public Health. And, 
in the United States, a person dies of an opioid overdose every 15 
minutes, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On a national scale, about 35 percent of homeless individuals are 
substance abusers, said Janette Kawachi, director of innovations and 
research at the Corporation for Supportive Housing. Within different 
groups of the homeless -- such as veterans -- substance abuse rates 
reach as high as 75 to 80 percent.

"We've known the correlation for a while, but the increased attention 
[to opioid abuse] has brought the issues to the forefront," Kawachi 
said in an interview. "There has been a lot of momentum in the 
importance of a clean and safe living environment."

'We need to focus more on the path to recovery, which is really 
bringing together housing and treatment and employment.'

Although Governor Charlie Baker has made combating substance abuse a 
priority for his administration, people are still dying at 
unprecedented rates in the state, said Dr. Monica Bharel, 
commissioner of the Department of Public Health.

Along with improving housing options for homeless people struggling 
with substance abuse, Bharel said the public's view of addiction must shift.

"We haven't really seen addiction as a medical disease overall," 
Bharel said. "As society, we have thought about it much more as a 
choice, or as a decision that had a moral judgment around it. And 
what we're working really hard on now in Massachusetts is to change that."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom