Their prolonged healthcare imposes a significant cost to the healthcare system and deprives others from receiving their timely healthcare. Studies show that preventive and primary care (which homeless people are not receiving) substantially lower the overall healthcare costs. Unfortunately, in terms of providing adequate treatment to homeless people with respect to their mental illness, the healthcare system’s performance has not been promising, either. It is apparent that a comprehensive solution to homelessness must include an effective approach to providing healthcare to homeless people. Disabilities, especially where disability services are non-existent, inconvenient, or poorly performing can impact a persons ability to support house payments, mortgages, or rent, especially if they are unable to work. Traumatic brain injury is one main disability that can account for homelessness. According to a Canadian survey, traumatic brain injury is widespread among homeless people and, for around 70% of respondents, can be attributed to a time "before the onset of homelessness"Being afflicted with a mental disorder, including substance use disorders, where mental health services are unavailable or difficult to access can also drive homelessness for the same reasons as disabilities. A United States federal survey done in 2005 indicated that at least one-third of homeless men and women have serious psychiatric disorders or problems. Autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia are the top two common mental disabilities among the U.S. homeless. Personality disorders are also very prevalent, especially Cluster A.
There has been ongoing concern and studies about the health and wellness of the older homeless population, typically ages 50 to 64 and older, as to whether they are significantly more sickly than their younger counterparts, and if they are under-served.A 2011 study led by Dr. Rebecca T. Brown in Boston, conducted by the Institute for Aging Research (an affiliate of Harvard Medical School), Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program found the elderly homeless population had "higher rates of geriatric syndromes, including functional decline, falls, frailty, and depression than seniors in the general population, and that many of these conditions may be easily treated if detected". The report was published in the Journal of Geriatric Internal Medicine. There are government avenues which provide resources for the development of healthcare for homeless people. In the United States, the Bureau of Primary Health Care has a program that provides grants to fund the delivery of healthcare to homeless people. According to 2011 UDS, data community health centers were able to provide service to 1,087,431 homeless individuals. There are also many nonprofit and religious organizations which provide healthcare services to homeless people. These organizations help meet the large need which exists for expanding healthcare for homeless people. There have been significant numbers of unsheltered persons dying of hypothermia, adding impetus to the trend of establishing warming centers, as well as extending enumeration surveys with vulnerability indexes.