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California accounts for nearly a quarter of the entire homeless population in the United States [1], largely due to its climate, its support programs, and its d

California accounts for nearly a quarter of the entire homeless population in the United States [1], largely due to its climate, its support programs, and its dense network of municipal services and population centers. Approximately 14% of all homeless in the US are military veterans, many of whom suffer from PTSD and were turned out of VA clinics in the 1970s and 1980s due to budget cutbacks. The article is correct in placing a lot of the blame on Reagan, who as governor of CA and president of the US, aggressively scaled back support for both veterans in specific, and the homeless in general. As the article mentions, he also closed a lot of psychiatric hospitals, whose inpatients were turned out onto the streets, left to their own devices. Reagan wasn't the only legislator responsible for this turn of events, but he was probably the most powerful. Perhaps homelessness is inevitable to some degree. Perhaps some proportion of the population in a laissez-faire, competitive country like the modern US is always going to fall through the cracks. Perhaps we lack the will or the budget to solve the problem completely or permanently. Perhaps some people just can't be saved. I'm not going to launch into an armchair, pollyannaish prescription for solving this problem when I don't have a fantastic solution. (That said, I suspect the best long-term solution is at least as preventive as it is rehabilitative.) Regardless, there's one thing we can control on an individual level: the way we view and treat the mentally ill and the homeless. Let's not further the stigma, or wax poetic about the homeless in SF as some sort of quirky, fun landmark. I suspect that's not the author's intention -- he's setting out to celebrate the homeless, not to denigrate them -- but some of his language lends itself to misinterpretation. As someone with a close friend who's been homeless, and other friends who've been institutionalized, I don't find the "crazy bums" characterization very constructive. [1] https://www.onecpd.info/resources/documents/pit-hic_supplementalaharreport.pdf https://www.onecpd.info/resources/documents/pit-hic_suppleme...

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andrewpi 13y ago
My understanding is that the story of deinstitutionalization is a bit more complex: there was a movement in the 70s and 80s to have the mentally-ill returned to the community, instead of being treated in state institutions. However, many of the local facilities that the mentally ill were to receive treatment in were never actually established. At the same time, commitment laws were changed in many states, as part of a civil rights movement, to make it almost impossible to commit someone against their own will unless they were a physical danger to themselves or others. Additionally, Reagan was never a legislator, but only served in an executive capacity, as Governor of California and as President of the US.
- jonnathanson 13y ago
  Fair points, especially about the commitment laws. And point noted about the use of the term "legislator" w/r/t Reagan. Good catch.
clarkm 13y ago
Considering that veterans make up 8.9% of all US adults [1] and that both veterans and homeless people are overwhelmingly male, 14% doesn't sound very high. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if veterans were actually underrepresented in the homeless population as compared to the general population with similar demographics. [1] http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_12_1YR_DP02&prodType=table http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/...
baddox 13y ago
> California accounts for nearly a quarter of the entire homeless population in the United States And, just for reference, 12% of the US population lives in California.
- collyw 13y ago
  So around double what you would expect.
  - VladRussian2 13y ago
    don't forget "export" from other states: http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2021804212_mentallyillxml.html http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2021804212_mentally... "The state of Nevada and its primary psychiatric hospital “intentionally and wrongfully” foisted the cost of caring for indigent mentally ill people onto California cities and counties by issuing patients bus tickets out of town without making proper arrangements for their care, a lawsuit filed Tuesday in San Francisco charges."
    - cafard 13y ago
      "Greyhound therapy" has been around for many, many yesrs. I heard of it ca. 1980 and it wasn't new then--somebody was talking about it adding to the troubled population of Washington, DC.

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andrewpi 13y ago

My understanding is that the story of deinstitutionalization is a bit more complex: there was a movement in the 70s and 80s to have the mentally-ill returned to the community, instead of being treated in state institutions. However, many of the local facilities that the mentally ill were to receive treatment in were never actually established. At the same time, commitment laws were changed in many states, as part of a civil rights movement, to make it almost impossible to commit someone against their own will unless they were a physical danger to themselves or others. Additionally, Reagan was never a legislator, but only served in an executive capacity, as Governor of California and as President of the US.

jonnathanson 13y ago
Fair points, especially about the commitment laws. And point noted about the use of the term "legislator" w/r/t Reagan. Good catch.

clarkm 13y ago

Considering that veterans make up 8.9% of all US adults [1] and that both veterans and homeless people are overwhelmingly male, 14% doesn't sound very high. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if veterans were actually underrepresented in the homeless population as compared to the general population with similar demographics. [1] http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_12_1YR_DP02&prodType=table http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/...

baddox 13y ago

> California accounts for nearly a quarter of the entire homeless population in the United States And, just for reference, 12% of the US population lives in California.

collyw 13y ago
So around double what you would expect.
- VladRussian2 13y ago
  don't forget "export" from other states: http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2021804212_mentallyillxml.html http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2021804212_mentally... "The state of Nevada and its primary psychiatric hospital “intentionally and wrongfully” foisted the cost of caring for indigent mentally ill people onto California cities and counties by issuing patients bus tickets out of town without making proper arrangements for their care, a lawsuit filed Tuesday in San Francisco charges."
  - cafard 13y ago
    "Greyhound therapy" has been around for many, many yesrs. I heard of it ca. 1980 and it wasn't new then--somebody was talking about it adding to the troubled population of Washington, DC.