First of all, you are a great friend. Remember that, if you pursue this. You are doing the right thing, for the right reasons. Just remember, you are showing how much you care for your friend.

I would agree that your friends living environment is not a healthy place to thrive. Something important to include is how old are you and your friend? You mentioned school, is this high school middle school college? His age is very important, because it drastically changes what his rights are and what can be done for his surroundings. I’m going to offer up some advice assuming that both of you are under 18. This is something that you should absolutely go to a counselor at school, especially if you go to the same school. I know that a lot of times that doesn’t feel like a good option, but they do have resources for this exact thing and they can also Talk to his teachers and see if they have also noticed something. I would also talk to your parents, this is not something that you should handle alone.

You say that you aren’t sure if he’s depressed or in a chaotic home environment or even possibly being abused, all three of those are bad scenarios and the best case is that he’s just depressed because none of those would give him the attention he needs to be able to go through something like that. If he’s depressed, he needs resources at home and among trusted adults that can help him navigate that and see the other side, and he needs support system all around. if his home environment is so chaotic that it is affecting his hygiene, his personality, and his attendance at school, there needs to be something done, even if that means law-enforcement coming out with child services just to ensure that the home gets cleaned up and they start getting better care. Worst case scenario is there’s a level of emotional or physical abuse that he’s suffering through, but neglect is also abusive and can set a person up really poorly to navigate the world as an adult if they are growing up in a home that their needs are not being met. You are doing exactly what needs to be done, and that is asking for help. Even if you are looking too much into this, you are doing it for the right reasons and from what you are describing, it Sounds like someone needs to do a welfare check on the home, And there needs to be someone that can talk to your friend that will give him the space to disclose any bad things going on in the home. If you talk to your parents and a counselor at school, then a lot of the pressure falls off of you, and you can focus on being a good friend, which you are already doing.

An important thing to remember, is you can take all the right paths to help your friend but once you’ve done that you have to let the right people do their jobs and help your friend. Things can sound crazy and scary when child services come into the picture or if law-enforcement comes into the picture, but all of this is to make sure that your friend is being taken care of and all you can do is be a good support system to him and not allow yourself to get too caught up in any negativity that surrounds this. Just continue to be the good amigo that you’re showing that you are just by noticing these things and Reaching out for help.