5 ms·

So the homeless aren't mostly comprised of people with mental issues who'd have been homeless anyway? Also, homelessness itself can trigger mental issues acros

So the homeless aren't mostly comprised of people with mental issues who'd have been homeless anyway? Also, homelessness itself can trigger mental issues across the general population who previously were well to do.

AnimalMuppet 5y ago
Some are, some aren't. As the cost of housing goes up, the fraction of the homeless who are homeless for economic reasons also goes up.
lkbm 5y ago
I mean, I suspect it's mostly be people with mental health issues, but I rarely see any evidence for the "who'd been homeless anyway" part. I know plenty of people with mental health issues who aren't homeless. Most of them work productive jobs and support themselves. Mental health issues are usually manageable if you have the resources to manage them. If homelessness is increasing, then it seems likely that something's causing the increase. If the cause is mental illness, something's causing that mental illness to be more prevalent or less manageable. High rent seems like a decent hypothesis of it being less manageable.
honksillet 5y ago
Mental health and addiction issues. (The later is the root of most of the former.)
notch656a 5y ago
> Also, homelessness itself can trigger mental issues across the general population who previously were well to do. I'm sure it does but I'm genuinely curious whether this legitimately drives a significant increase in mental issues. Anecdotally as someone who's always been able bodied thus able to find day labor doing mindless unskilled work like moving drywall even in the worst economies, I find homelessness to be less stressful as the responsibilities and day to day worries just were much more basic. It takes maybe 2 hours of day labor a day to live a luxurious by homeless standard existence (plenty of money for food, drink, patching tent/shelter, maintaining excellent REI-tier outdoor clothing that ensure you're nice and warm in all climates, etc). By contrast, now that I have legal residence-zoned housing (in my state I could be found in violation of child negligence laws if I don't provide whatever CPS considers adequate shelter, so I have no choice) I find my stresses and worries to be much higher as the amount of money needed to maintain artificially limited thus expensive housing to be significantly higher. If you are of sound body and mind, free of addiction and able and willing to work a couple hours a day (which believe it or not, lots of shitty jobs will tolerate you not being showered or whatever just fine), being homeless can be a pretty easy and low worry - even freeing - existence.
brightstep 5y ago
It's being unhoused that causes mental illness, not the other way around.

AnimalMuppet 5y ago

Some are, some aren't. As the cost of housing goes up, the fraction of the homeless who are homeless for economic reasons also goes up.

lkbm 5y ago

I mean, I suspect it's mostly be people with mental health issues, but I rarely see any evidence for the "who'd been homeless anyway" part. I know plenty of people with mental health issues who aren't homeless. Most of them work productive jobs and support themselves. Mental health issues are usually manageable if you have the resources to manage them. If homelessness is increasing, then it seems likely that something's causing the increase. If the cause is mental illness, something's causing that mental illness to be more prevalent or less manageable. High rent seems like a decent hypothesis of it being less manageable.

honksillet 5y ago

Mental health and addiction issues. (The later is the root of most of the former.)

notch656a 5y ago

> Also, homelessness itself can trigger mental issues across the general population who previously were well to do. I'm sure it does but I'm genuinely curious whether this legitimately drives a significant increase in mental issues. Anecdotally as someone who's always been able bodied thus able to find day labor doing mindless unskilled work like moving drywall even in the worst economies, I find homelessness to be less stressful as the responsibilities and day to day worries just were much more basic. It takes maybe 2 hours of day labor a day to live a luxurious by homeless standard existence (plenty of money for food, drink, patching tent/shelter, maintaining excellent REI-tier outdoor clothing that ensure you're nice and warm in all climates, etc). By contrast, now that I have legal residence-zoned housing (in my state I could be found in violation of child negligence laws if I don't provide whatever CPS considers adequate shelter, so I have no choice) I find my stresses and worries to be much higher as the amount of money needed to maintain artificially limited thus expensive housing to be significantly higher. If you are of sound body and mind, free of addiction and able and willing to work a couple hours a day (which believe it or not, lots of shitty jobs will tolerate you not being showered or whatever just fine), being homeless can be a pretty easy and low worry - even freeing - existence.

brightstep 5y ago

It's being unhoused that causes mental illness, not the other way around.