Housing assistance among people who are unstably housed and use drugs in Oregon

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Unstable housing has tremendous harms on health and well-being and people who use drug experience significant barriers to housing. The objectives of this study were to estimate the prevalence of housing assistance among people who use drugs experiencing unstable housing in Oregon and explore factors associated with obtaining housing assistance.

METHODS: We used cross-sectional survey data collected between March and November 2023 from people who were unstably housed and used drugs across eight counties in Oregon (N = 425). Unstable housing was defined as experiencing unsheltered or sheltered homelessness in the past year. Participants reported whether they obtained housing assistance in the past year. We explored associations between sociodemographic characteristics and housing assistance using multivariable log-binomial models.

RESULTS: There were 133 participants (31.3%) who reported obtaining housing assistance in the past year. There was a lower prevalence of housing assistance for cisgender men (versus cisgender women and gender expansive participants) (PR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.55-0.98) and those interviewed in non-urban counties (versus urban counties) (PR = 0.72, 95% CI: 0.53-0.98). Using opioids 21 or more days (versus 0-20 days) was associated with a lower prevalence of obtaining housing assistance (PR = 0.67, 95% CI: 0.48-0.94) Community supervision was associated with a higher prevalence of housing assistance (PR = 1.70, 95% CI: 1.27-2.27).

CONCLUSION: We found a large gap in housing assistance for people who use drugs in Oregon and identified several factors associated with obtaining housing assistance. Our findings can inform future interventions to connect people who use drugs with stable housing.