Drugs and alcohol may have different impacts on homelessness.Tom Gregoire, assistant professor in the College of Social Work, published a study on the different effects drug-abuse problems have on the ability to escape homelessness.Gregoire’s study of 350 homeless people in Minneapolis found it was easier for drug users to escape homelessness than heavy alcohol users.The study also found long-term homeless people were more likely to be older and alcoholic, while homeless drug users tended to be younger and on the streets for shorter periods.’The older folks who used alcohol also tended to be more disconnected from family,’ he said. Substance abuse is not the only factor related to homelessness, Gregoire said.’There were a lot of homeless people who didn’t use alcohol or other drugs,’ he said. ‘This study does not make a causal argument.’ In Ohio one third of the homeless population has a history of substance abuse.Jim Cain, associate director of the Columbus-based Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, said there is another reason why 147,000 Ohioans are homeless each year.’The principal cause of homelessness is the relationship between a livable wage and the cost of housing,’ Cain said. According to a report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, 35 percent of Ohio’s population cannot afford a one-bedroom apartment; 44 percent cannot afford a two-bedroom apartment. According to the same report, the hourly wage needed to rent a one bedroom apartment is $7.25. This figure is $2.50 above the federal hourly minimum wage.’What is happening is that people are having difficulty in paying the rent,’ Cain said. ‘They end up robbing Peter to pay Paul, it catches up with them and they end up on the street.’The study also indicates that most people move in and out of homelessness several times. Norm Kijewsky, a chemical dependency counselor at Friends of the Homeless, a Columbus homeless shelter, said the distinctions made by the research, even if he did experience them, are not something that would effect his work.’A drug is a drug is a drug,’ Kijewsky said. ‘In the practical sense it’s a moot point, because you treat different forms of substance abuse in very similar ways.’However, according to the research there can be important differences.’The implications of our findings are that we need to not dichotomize substance abuse and homeless people,’ Gregoire said. ‘It has differential impacts and sometimes no impact at all.’