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The lion’s share of homeless are there because of untreated mental illness (25%) or addiction (another 33%, although I personally lump this in with mental illne

The lion’s share of homeless are there because of untreated mental illness (25%) or addiction (another 33%, although I personally lump this in with mental illness). The kindest thing we as a society can do is de-stigmatize mental illness and addiction and treat it as any other medical issue. It’s easy for us, especially in the valley, to think it’s just a matter of writing a check — with enough cash airdrops or free apartments homeless would solve itself. Rather, the problem is complex and multifaceted and requires us to confront uncomfortable truths about ourselves and how we perceive mental illness and addiction.

DoreenMichele 9y ago
Of course, money alone does not fix this. I've had a class on homelessness and public policy. I spent 5.7 years homeless. I'm the author of the San Diego Homeless Survival Guide and something of a SME on homelessness. I'm trying to develop real solutions and I'm jazzed to learn that the state I moved to last fall is trying to establish statewide single payer healthcare. I just found that out this morning. I think single payer health care and adequate quantities of affordable housing would make a serious dent in the homeless problem. It won't fix it for everyone, but if it cut it by 50 percent, that would be awesome.
manicdee 9y ago
Note that all the schemes involving giving free housing to the homeless also come with counselling and psychiatric help. That the problem is multifaceted doesn’t mean that free money and housing won’t significantly reduce the symptoms. You doctore will still prescribe anti-inflammatories even if the problem is a broken bone. The anti-inflammatories aren’t there to fix the bone, they are there to ease the other symptoms to make recovery easier on everyone.