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This does not even speak to substance abuse and addiction. Most of the remaining 55 who aren't mentally ill, are frequently mentally impaired due to substance abuse, and are incapable of working or playing nice with others while they are commiting crimes or hustling, to get the substances they are addicted to.
A UCLA study of homeless in Los Angeles found that 75% were mentally ill and 78% were addicted to drugs or alcohol.
Then there is the below article.
Social selection: Substance use can lead to the streets
"Most of the current evidence about the relationship between homelessness and substance use supports a social selection model. This model indicates that problem substance use may be a direct pathway to homelessness.
"A number of studies provide support to this theory. Research reveals that approximately two-thirds of homeless people cite alcohol and/or other drugs as a major, and at times primary, reason for becoming homeless.4,8-9 In fact, many homeless people develop problems with alcohol and other drugs before losing their homes. One US study reports that, for people who have ever experienced homelessness, the median age (i.e., the mid-point across the participants' ages) at first street experience was 28 years. The median age at first symptoms of alcohol problems, however, was 22 years, and for drug problems, 25 years.10 Clearly, problem substance use is a significant risk factor that decreases a person's ability to respond to life's challenges.
And even as the article's authors note that some people may have developed drug and alcohol addictions resulting from homelessness rather than causing it, they don't begin to pretend that the masses and masses of homeless people are neither mentally ill NOR addicted to drugs and alcohol.
People who are down on their luck don't stay on the street very long if at all.
It is a myth that normal people of sound mind who are not addicted to drugs or alcohol are just a paycheck away from becoming "homeless". But this lie has to be spread in order to scare the masses into thinking they are just one paycheck away from being that mentally ill addict on the corner.
45% of homeless are mentally ill. https://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~hcht/bl...l-health-facts
This does not even speak to substance abuse and addiction. Most of the remaining 55 who aren't mentally ill, are frequently mentally impaired due to substance abuse, and are incapable of working or playing nice with others while they are commiting crimes or hustling, to get the substances they are addicted to.
A UCLA study of homeless in Los Angeles found that 75% were mentally ill and 78% were addicted to drugs or alcohol.
Then there is the below article. Social selection: Substance use can lead to the streets
"Most of the current evidence about the relationship between homelessness and substance use supports a social selection model. This model indicates that problem substance use may be a direct pathway to homelessness.
"A number of studies provide support to this theory. Research reveals that approximately two-thirds of homeless people cite alcohol and/or other drugs as a major, and at times primary, reason for becoming homeless.4,8-9 In fact, many homeless people develop problems with alcohol and other drugs before losing their homes. One US study reports that, for people who have ever experienced homelessness, the median age (i.e., the mid-point across the participants' ages) at first street experience was 28 years. The median age at first symptoms of alcohol problems, however, was 22 years, and for drug problems, 25 years.10 Clearly, problem substance use is a significant risk factor that decreases a person's ability to respond to life's challenges. https://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/visions...s-homelessness
And even as the article's authors note that some people may have developed drug and alcohol addictions resulting from homelessness rather than causing it, they don't begin to pretend that the masses and masses of homeless people are neither mentally ill NOR addicted to drugs and alcohol.
People who are down on their luck don't stay on the street very long if at all.
It is a myth that normal people of sound mind who are not addicted to drugs or alcohol are just a paycheck away from becoming "homeless". But this lie has to be spread in order to scare the masses into thinking they are just one paycheck away from being that mentally ill addict on the corner.
Most people who spend time working with the homeless know that a fair number are mentally ill, and many of them abuse drugs or alcohol, it's called 'self medicating' but throwing out statistics on the numbers doesn't do much to solve the problem because you can't involuntarily detain them even for a psych evaluation unless they are in grave danger of harming themselves or others. And a fair number of mentally ill people work or have worked in the past so I am not sure what point you are trying to make?
I’m sharing Suzanna’s story because in a county with 60,000 homeless people, three or four of whom die each day on average, it’s just so good to hear about a successful intervention.
I understand that frustration in a region where sprawling encampments and full-blown mental breakdowns are a common sight, and I do believe that in some cases, involuntary commitments are the only way to save lives. The woman in Silver Lake, by the way, was hospitalized and remains in treatment.
But there’s a tendency to think that simple solutions exist for a human catastrophe with a thousand different causes. And it would be a mistake to assume that simply medicating or arresting people can be a panacea. Suzanna’s case, in fact, is a study in how much work is involved in rescuing someone.
There's two types of solutions for homelessness. A solution for the homeless person - and this is indeed very complex and very different depending on the individual concerned - and a solution for the rest of us to not have the public spaces of our cities and towns destroyed or disfigured.
For the latter the answer is quite obvious - removal. Now whether that is to an affordable housing unit, an assisted living facility, to a mental hospital, a rehab facility or a prison is indeed dependent on the individual and their circumstances.
But it's becoming increasingly clear that the only way to curb homelessness is to ensure there's an alternative option for every single person affected by it, and that they accept this alternative option whether they like it or not.
There were at least 269,000 K-12 students in California experiencing homelessness at the end of the 2018-19 school year — enough children and teens to fill Dodgers Stadium five times over — and that number was likely a gross underestimate, a UCLA report said.
In the face of pandemic-related job losses and economic instability, researchers believe that the number of homeless students in California is likely to surge, according to the study from UCLA’s Center for the Transformation of Schools.
The report, released Wednesday, asserts that the networks of schools, school districts and local organizations that act as safety nets for these students continue to be vastly under-resourced, contributing to disproportionately poor outcomes for pupils impacted by unstable housing.
This does not even speak to substance abuse and addiction. Most of the remaining 55 who aren't mentally ill, are frequently mentally impaired due to substance abuse, and are incapable of working or playing nice with others while they are commiting crimes or hustling, to get the substances they are addicted to.
A UCLA study of homeless in Los Angeles found that 75% were mentally ill and 78% were addicted to drugs or alcohol.
Then there is the below article.
Social selection: Substance use can lead to the streets
"Most of the current evidence about the relationship between homelessness and substance use supports a social selection model. This model indicates that problem substance use may be a direct pathway to homelessness.
"A number of studies provide support to this theory. Research reveals that approximately two-thirds of homeless people cite alcohol and/or other drugs as a major, and at times primary, reason for becoming homeless.4,8-9 In fact, many homeless people develop problems with alcohol and other drugs before losing their homes. One US study reports that, for people who have ever experienced homelessness, the median age (i.e., the mid-point across the participants' ages) at first street experience was 28 years. The median age at first symptoms of alcohol problems, however, was 22 years, and for drug problems, 25 years.10 Clearly, problem substance use is a significant risk factor that decreases a person's ability to respond to life's challenges.
And even as the article's authors note that some people may have developed drug and alcohol addictions resulting from homelessness rather than causing it, they don't begin to pretend that the masses and masses of homeless people are neither mentally ill NOR addicted to drugs and alcohol.
People who are down on their luck don't stay on the street very long if at all.
It is a myth that normal people of sound mind who are not addicted to drugs or alcohol are just a paycheck away from becoming "homeless". But this lie has to be spread in order to scare the masses into thinking they are just one paycheck away from being that mentally ill addict on the corner.
Igor, what’s the point of your postings about homelessness? You make a number of statements that aren’t really in contention - and you make them as if you think you are revealing a discovery of truths surreptitiously suppressed.
No one, for example, has suggested that the vast majority of homeless have no underlying problems with mental illness or addictions. Nor has it been suggested that many homeless are unable to move on out of homelessness. In fact, quite the opposite has been demonstrated in research and reported here in thousands of posts. While the ugliest faces of homelessness have become the stereotype, 75% of homeless are rehoused within a year .... and the average time spent homeless is in the two month range.
Of both the chronic, street homeless and the temporary, short term homeless, there are plenty of addicts and mentally ill. But you fail to engage in context. The facts are that nearly half (46%) of all adults in America will experience some level of mental illness at some point in their lives. Approximately 5% of adults will struggle in any given year. That’s 43.5 million people walking around suffering mental illness at any given time. Of the mentally ill, roughly 10 million are living with severe conditions.
Yet there are but 500,000 homeless across our nation.
Where are these tens of millions of other mentally ill? How are they not on the streets - if, as you say, mental illness leads so typically to homelessness?
They are housed, Igor. They have resources or family support. What the mentally ill homeless lack, first and foremost, that tens of millions of other mentally ill have: is housing options.
Same can be said for addicts and alcoholics. Shall I trot out the staggering statistics of how many Americans struggle with drugs and alcohol issues ... and compare the numbers to the total homeless population?
Do mental illness and addictions lead to homelessness? Well, for some people, yes. For ALL homeless? No. For ALL others who struggle with mental illness and or addictions? Um, nope. Not even close.
The differences between those who struggle and remain employed / housed and those who end up on the street are to be found in a myriad of individual issues in great variety of combinations.
What are you trying to get at with your diatribes? You seem to think the problem can be distilled down to a unified theory of intentionally, self-inflicted demise. Who would choose to live in their car let alone eat out of dumpsters while sleeping in urine-soaked clothes on a sidewalk - given ANY better choice?
You don’t know squat about these people. You haven’t lived as they do or around them nor interacted supportively with them. (Yes, I have.). There is a very wide range of people on the streets: mentally ill, mentally sound; thieves, and those honest to a fault who would return a bag of money if found on a bench; ex-cons up to no good, and paroled who work jobs but can’t qualify landlord background checks to get a room; severe illness survivors and sufferers; addicts and sober; mentally incompetent and others with college degrees and good intellect ... you name it, they’re out there.
One paycheck away is real for those who have no extensive support network ... and there are plenty of them.
Igor, what’s the point of your postings about homelessness? You make a number of statements that aren’t really in contention - and you make them as if you think you are revealing a discovery of truths surreptitiously suppressed.
No one, for example, has suggested that the vast majority of homeless have no underlying problems with mental illness or addictions. Nor has it been suggested that many homeless are unable to move on out of homelessness. In fact, quite the opposite has been demonstrated in research and reported here in thousands of posts. While the ugliest faces of homelessness have become the stereotype, 75% of homeless are rehoused within a year .... and the average time spent homeless is in the two month range.
Of both the chronic, street homeless and the temporary, short term homeless, there are plenty of addicts and mentally ill. But you fail to engage in context. The facts are that nearly half (46%) of all adults in America will experience some level of mental illness at some point in their lives. Approximately 5% of adults will struggle in any given year. That’s 43.5 million people walking around suffering mental illness at any given time. Of the mentally ill, roughly 10 million are living with severe conditions.
Yet there are but 500,000 homeless across our nation.
Where are these tens of millions of other mentally ill? How are they not on the streets - if, as you say, mental illness leads so typically to homelessness?
They are housed, Igor. They have resources or family support. What the mentally ill homeless lack, first and foremost, that tens of millions of other mentally ill have: is housing options.
Same can be said for addicts and alcoholics. Shall I trot out the staggering statistics of how many Americans struggle with drugs and alcohol issues ... and compare the numbers to the total homeless population?
Do mental illness and addictions lead to homelessness? Well, for some people, yes. For ALL homeless? No. For ALL others who struggle with mental illness and or addictions? Um, nope. Not even close.
The differences between those who struggle and remain employed / housed and those who end up on the street are to be found in a myriad of individual issues in great variety of combinations.
What are you trying to get at with your diatribes? You seem to think the problem can be distilled down to a unified theory of intentionally, self-inflicted demise. Who would choose to live in their car let alone eat out of dumpsters while sleeping in urine-soaked clothes on a sidewalk - given ANY better choice?
You don’t know squat about these people. You haven’t lived as they do or around them nor interacted supportively with them. (Yes, I have.). There is a very wide range of people on the streets: mentally ill, mentally sound; thieves, and those honest to a fault who would return a bag of money if found on a bench; ex-cons up to no good, and paroled who work jobs but can’t qualify landlord background checks to get a room; severe illness survivors and sufferers; addicts and sober; mentally incompetent and others with college degrees and good intellect ... you name it, they’re out there.
One paycheck away is real for those who have no extensive support network ... and there are plenty of them.
This is all true.
The problem is that no one has a viable solution for the narrow range of problem ones, at all. In effect they leave them on the street and let them continue to suffer. They, after a court ruling, are not allowed to take genuine steps to help them
The problem is that no one has a viable solution for the narrow range of problem ones, at all. In effect they leave them on the street and let them continue to suffer. They, after a court ruling, are not allowed to take genuine steps to help them
There are programs at work helping many. But the numbers of newly homeless equal or exceed those successfully served ... so ... results appear null or worsening. It’s a bit of an illusion, because of dealing with numbers ... meanwhile some individuals are placed into housing or able to regain their own stability.
But yeah, the public burden remains huge ... and a huge failure. No excuse for homelessness.
That said, I’ll once again highlight the single most effective program and philosophy: Housing First. Housing First venues exist many places across the country, including LA. Wherever they exist they show extraordinary success rates at managing the worst cases on the streets ... and do so at savings ranging from 25% - 60% of typical community costs for those individuals.
Anyone reading this who is interested in what Housing First is can simply Google the name and read.
There are programs at work helping many. But the numbers of newly homeless equal or exceed those successfully served ... so ... results appear null or worsening. It’s a bit of an illusion, because of dealing with numbers ... meanwhile some individuals are placed into housing or able to regain their own stability.
But yeah, the public burden remains huge ... and a huge failure. No excuse for homelessness.
That said, I’ll once again highlight the single most effective program and philosophy: Housing First. Housing First venues exist many places across the country, including LA. Wherever they exist they show extraordinary success rates at managing the worst cases on the streets ... and do so at savings ranging from 25% - 60% of typical community costs for those individuals.
Anyone reading this who is interested in what Housing First is can simply Google the name and read.
It does help many, but in LA with the number of homeless they could never build enough due to finding enough land or old buildings and ... the money. They could if they could build them in outlying areas, but then many of the homeless will not go there. No real solution in just providing housing especially if the requirements must be minim al to get some of the addicted to move in. It works, but is only a partial solution.
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