10/10/2026
October 10 is World Mental Health Day and World Homelessness Day, an interesting intersection of two significant dates to acknowledge and understand how each issue impacts the other.
From homelesshub.ca
“People with poor mental health are more susceptible to the three main factors that can lead to homelessness: poverty, disaffiliation, and personal vulnerability. Mental illness can also impair a person’s ability to be resilient and resourceful; it can cloud thinking and impair judgment. For these reasons, people with mental illness are at greater risk of experiencing homelessness.
Homelessness, in turn, amplifies poor mental health. The stress of experiencing homelessness may exacerbate previous mental illness and encourage anxiety, fear, depression, sleeplessness, and substance use.
Considerable studies show that people experiencing homelessness are more susceptible to poorer mental health than the general population. The stressful environmental conditions and the difficult situations that homeless people experience daily can trigger mental illnesses or aggravate existing conditions."
Recommendation #10 from the most recent Winnipeg Street Census speaks to the intersection of mental health and homelessness, and the importance of adequate mental health supports for a person's experience in finding and maintaining housing:
"10. Recommendation: Increase mental health supports to individuals who are experiencing homelessness, to those who are precariously housed, and to those who are recently housed.
• Rationale: Mental health struggles were common among survey respondents and contributed to housing loss and difficulties transitioning out of homelessness. Specifically, more than half (56%) reported struggling with their mental health, with even higher rates among women (64%) and gender diverse and non-binary individuals (81%). For some (8%), mental health challenges were reasons for their housing loss. Notably, 66% of respondents reported they need mental health supports to find and maintain housing."
At Main Street Project, we recognize this connection and the importance of meeting people with care, dignity and understanding.
