Homelessness and substance use disorders (SUDs) maintain a positive bi-directional association (i.e., being homeless increases risk of illicit drug use and illicit drug use increases risk of being homeless). There is strong empirical support for the finding that people who are homeless are more likely to die from a fatal drug overdose than people who use drugs and are stably housed. Not only are individuals who are homeless at increased risk of mortality, they are at increased risk of a variety of other negative health outcomes (depression, suicide, sexual exploitation, etc.). It is likely the combination of a variety of risk factors that contributes to individuals who are homeless being at increased risk or illicit drug use and subsequent mortality
