Now, a study suggests that requiring alcohol abstinence from residents of homeless projects might be misguided. In at least one project where residents were allowed to drink, alcohol consumption decreased, as did alcohol-related health problems, researchers reported on January 19 in the American Journal of Public Health.A total of 95 residents were tracked in the 1811 House—a housing project in Seattle. After two years, the residents’ median number of drinks per day decreased from 28 to 17, about a 40 percent drop. And the number of alcohol-related health problems, such as delirium tremens, decreased as well. “We found that these people are human beings, and can moderate their drinking,” says Susan Collins, at researcher at the University of Washington, and lead author on the study, “and that starts with getting housing.”
(Source: se-smith)
