| Sumario: | The article focuses on the neurobiological framework explaining why homelessness interventions often fail when applied too late. It presents evidence that chronic stress from homelessness progressively damages brain regions responsible for planning and future-oriented thinking—such as the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex—while reinforcing survival routines in the basal ganglia, thereby narrowing the "recovery window." This damage reduces the ability of long-term unhoused individuals to benefit from conventional therapies that require intact cognitive functions, making early intervention critical. The article highlights that current U.S. homelessness funding prioritizes chronic cases, where recovery is least likely, rather than prevention or rapid response, contrasting this with Finland’s early, housing-first approach that significantly reduced homelessness. It calls for integrated systems that identify housing loss in real time, provide transitional private housing, and tailor counseling to the stage of homelessness to improve outcomes before irreversible brain changes occur.
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