研究人员呼吁关注缺水问题, toilet facilities for the unhoused
On a warm summer day in July, Hannah 希金斯 (MA ’23) strolled the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver in search of something. Despite the mall’s consumer-driven aura, she wasn’t there to shop. 她是去记录的. 就在16街的尽头, she found what she was looking for—a public water fountain 和 restroom.
希金斯, along with other students 和 faculty from the University of Denver 和 Regis University, 与……合作工作 丹佛管家行动网络(HAND) to conduct a study that examined access to water 和 toilet facilities for the unhoused in the city. 无法获得安全可靠的水, 环境卫生和个人卫生被称为WASH不安全, 适足住房的重要组成部分.
蕾妮·博塔携手, an associate professor of global health 和 development communication in the 艺术、人文和社会科学学院, has been exploring this phenomenon for decades, specifically in Africa. And when the coronavirus p和emic canceled her trip there in 2021, she began to ruminate on WASH insecurity among the unhoused community in Denver.
在接下来的两年里, 博塔和艾米丽·范·豪威林, 里吉斯大学的教授, 和 their students conducted 193 surveys 和 five focus groups. The results were clear: For those experiencing homelessness, finding a water fountain or using a public restroom can be a challenging 11-12-minute task.
他们映射 271 publicly available water fountains 和 toilets in the city, 包括159平方英里的区域. 步行和骑自行车, students documented the conditions of these water fountains 和 toilets, 包括清洁, ADA的可访问性, 自来水, 小时开放, 季节性关闭和安全限制.
根据报告, 49% of all park toilets were seasonal 和 closed from October through April. Toilets in public buildings often require security screenings to enter, which often makes the unhoused feel too uncomfortable to use them.
正如一位无家可归的人告诉研究人员的那样, “找一个可靠的, 稳定的水源是不可能的, 然后当我能找到水龙头的时候, I almost get the cops called on me for just trying to access water 和 survive.”
“Not having a place to go feels disgusting, like [I am] an animal,” said another unhoused person.
当一个人可以找到一个方便的浴室, there’s no guarantee that it will be a safe experience, especially for women 和 members of the LGBTQ community.
“[We talked to] a few who had been assaulted in porta potties. Many needed someone who appeared to be strong to accompany them to toilets in the evening. 他们担心有人会袭击他们. There aren’t safe places for people to go to the bathroom,” 希金斯 says.
The report also detailed the effects of WASH insecurity on public health, 特别是无家可归者的健康, which is something Botta says is often left out of the conversation.
“One of the things that people talk about when they talk about encampments is that it’s unhealthy for public health,博塔说. “They’re talking about you 和 I—they’re not talking about [the unhoused], 好像他们不是公众的一部分. 他们是公众的一部分. 公共卫生也是他们的健康，对吧?”
根据报告, 28% of the unhoused surveyed reported a physical health challenge related to poor access to WASH services, 包括皮肤感染, 尿路感染, 膀胱感染, 胃病和甲型肝炎.
“I get yeast infections from holding it so much,” says an unhoused person. “我一生中从未感到过这么大的痛苦.”
While housed folks have certainly felt the pain of not being able to find a restroom, the experience is not the same as that of the unhoused.
“I can walk into any Starbucks I want 和 use the bathroom,博塔说. “他们不能. Unless, for some reason, they managed to have a ‘look’ about them.”
In their final report, Botta 和 Van Houweling make several recommendations. They are advocating for increasing access to bathrooms 和 water fountains, 改善现有设施的维修保养, keeping the water fountains 和 toilets open all year, 让企业参与进来, 改变社会对无家可归者的污名, 检测和保护水质, 和 putting up maps 和 signage to locate 和 identify bathrooms.
“People say, ‘I don't want them pooping in my yard.这就像是，好吧，那就提供厕所. 去城里告诉他们，”博塔说.