The mental health dimension is often less extreme than people imagine. It can be something like a depressed but otherwise "normal" person hitting an unusually l

The mental health dimension is often less extreme than people imagine. It can be something like a depressed but otherwise "normal" person hitting an unusually low point and being put on suicide watch. Because they are not allowed any outside communication, they can easily lose their job, and now they have potentially exorbitant medical bills to pay on top of trying to recover mentally. Thus begins their slide into homelessness. UBI could be a backstop against this as we hopefully make progress fixing healthcare. One of the biggest strengths of UBI is that it eliminates the beurocracy and waste associated with determining who "deserves" assistance. The dominant model in the US is expecting homeless people with drug problems to solve both their addiction and homelessness at the same time by themselves before they are deemed worthy of being helped, which needless to say is barely assistance at all. Having a gaurenteed income stream would make it easier to gain a foothold.