Quote:
Originally Posted by Woodsy
IMHO, approximately 20% of the homeless population is homeless due to circumstances beyond their control... lost job, divorce, domestic violence etc. . . . The larger percentage of homeless suffer from both mental illness AND addiction, be it drugs or alcohol or both. These are the ones who are close to impossible to help. Bottom line is they usually don't want any help because help usually comes with rules like sobriety. Currently there is no solution to help these people until they actually want to get clean and want the help.
|
You seem to be saying that some people have a bad outcome due to things beyond their control, while others make bad choices. You seem to be placing people with mental illness in the second group. I hope you will give this some more thought.
Regarding deinstitutionalization, it happened because the state was warehousing and confining people with mental illness and disabilities against their will in substandard, abusive conditions and not providing them with proper education, treatment, and support. The federal court in New Hampshire acknowledged this, so these facts are not in dispute. As a result, some people with disabilities have been able to access services like vocational rehabilitation and move to group homes or into the community to live and work. Many others were released into the community with no plan to support them. A middle ground is needed between forcible confinement in a substandard institution and being left to flounder on the street with no support. That takes financial resources and social and political will.
The original post here was about two cities. If you watch one of the numerous documentaries about homelessness in Los Angeles you will realize that we have two countries. Count your blessings if you happen to live in the "right" country, whether by accident of birth or because you had the wherewithal to make all the right decisions and encountered none of the calamities that can derail a person's life. We are ALL just ONE major life event away from catastrophe, be it cancer, an accident, being a victim of a crime, a divorce, fire, natural disaster, loss of a spouse, etc. What do you think your chances are of evading all of those events throughout your entire life? Really not very good. Life is like a house of cards, more delicate than we imagine during our good times.