Addressing barriers to homeless services for Latinxs: insights from a community health center

ABSTRACT

While experiencing significant rates of homelessness, Latinxs are less likely to connect to and receive homeless services when compared to other racial/ethnic groups. Disconnection from homeless services can be detrimental to an individual’s well-being. Through social needs screening and referrals, community health centers can be a vital source of service linkage for Latinx persons experiencing homelessness (PEH). To understand how health centers are assisting Latinx PEH and to identify challenges and key practices, four focus groups (n = 31) were conducted with program staff at a large community health center serving a predominantly low-income Latinx population. Identifying housing need was a critical first step in facilitating referrals to local homeless services providers. Participants noted that trust was critical to surpassing initial challenges of shame and stigma that many PEH experience and that thwart identification of need. Engagement approaches sensitive to cultural norms surrounding gender were also critical. Further, foreign-born Latinxs were identified as facing unique challenges related to immigration, which require greater attention from homelessness advocates. Overall, homelessness is a growing concern for the Latinx community and health centers can potentially provide important support for this vulnerable population through culturally-informed engagement.

KEYWORDS:

• Latinx homelessness
• community health center
• federally qualified health center
• social determinants of health
• homelessness

Acknowledgements

Dr. Chinchilla was supported by the United States (U.S.) Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development (DEI-SUPP-023). The views and opinions of the author espressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the VA or the United States Government.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

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Melissa Chinchilla

Dr. Melissa Chinchilla is a Health Services Researcher with the VA Greater Los Angeles (GLA) HSR&D Center of Innovation (COIN): Center for the Study of Healthcare Innovation, Implementation, and Policy; and an Associate Investigator with the VA Rehabilitation Research and Development (RR&D) Center on Enhancing Community Integration for Homeless Veterans (THRIVe). Dr. Chinchilla's research focuses on the social determinants of health, with an emphasis on housing and homelessness. Among other areas, her research focuses on increasing our understanding of Latino homelessness including barriers to homeless services connection and culturally relevant engagement strategies. Dr. Chinchilla earned her doctorate in Urban Studies and Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds a Master of Science in Health Policy and Management from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Master of City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley.