Hygiene & Homelessness

While good personal hygiene is well known to reduce risk of infectious disease and improve mental health, access to hygiene products and behaviors among people experiencing homelessness in the United States generally receives little attention.

When accessible, personal hygiene has been identified as a positive contributor to mental health among individuals experiencing homelessness.

For homeless women both the practical and symbolic aspects of menstruation interfere with help-seeking, strain time and resource management, and complicate survival strategies.

Many shelters are closed during daytime hours to encourage job-seeking. For the sheltered homeless, this limits access to hygienic “home” bathrooms needed to routinely change menstrual products.

If period products are not available, many women fashion makeshift pads from toilet paper, dirty socks, or newspaper, which can lead to yeast and urinary tract infections.

Though women are somewhat less affected by homelessness in general, they are far more likely to become homeless due to domestic violence, trafficking, and sexual abuse.

SOURCES:

  • Leibler, Jessica H et al. “Personal Hygiene Practices among Urban Homeless Persons in Boston, MA.” International journal of environmental research and public health, 2017
  • Rosengard C., Chambers D.B., Tulsky J.P., Long H.L., Chesney M. Value on health, health concerns and practices of women who are homeless. Women Health. 2001
  • Bromley
  • Marni Sommer, Caitlin Gruer, Rachel Clark Smith, Andrew Maroko,  Kim Hopper, Menstruation and homelessness: Challenges faced living in shelters and on the street in New York City, Health & Place, 2020
  • National Organization for Women