ItтАЩs not as simple as equating homelessness with mental illness.
First, homelessness itself is such a stressful experience that many people can feel and look mentally ill and/or self-medicate their situation with drugs/alcohol.
Second, the majority of people who are homeless are not mentally ill; they are unable to afford their rent. 40% of Americans would be unable to secure $400 to pay for a financial crisis. If a person or family list their housing due to job loss, divorce, accident/illness, it can often be impossible for them to pay the high costs of housing start-up тАФ which is often $3-4,000.
Third, the spiral downward is a real thing. People who lose their housing usually тАЬcouch-hopтАЭ but are unable to secure employment or save housing start-up costs. They may or may not (depending on the policies and resources of the state where they live) secure a bed in a shelter. Otherwise they are on the streets.
Fourth, rent increases have outpaced both wages and public benefits. Since Clinton converted AFDC entitlements to TANF state block grants in 1996, cash assistance was frozen in almost every state FOR 25 YEARS. Many States also stopped providing any cash assistance to adults without children or froze benefits for many years at ridiculous amounts - such as $201/month (in my state, one of the тАЬgenerousтАЭ ones). Assistance to folks with a disability is so low that there is not one county in the US where they can afford a one-bedroom apartment.
Rent subsidies are so underfunded and over-regulated that people who are eligible wait years - and three out of four never get help. Even those lucky enough to receive a subsidy can often see their subsidy lost if no landlord will accept governmental subsidies within a short period of time.
Of course there is more, but I will get off my soapbox now! I know that there is so much misinformation about homelessness out thereтАжI just canтАЩt help but offer TMI (which may be NEI - not enough information!).
My thanks to anyone who reads through my latest diatribe!
A relative of mime who is a social worker says that after a week or two, any newly homeless person will likely look like they have been homeless forever. That said, some people are homeless when times are good. I have a brain injury, and if my wife ever decided the burden of me was too much, I can easily see myself homeless as my symptoms make me into the ultimate incompetent. I forget things, lose focus, make mistakes, and to too it off have very little energy. No doubt I will have lots of typos in this message (though it helps that I am thinking about it so at least I read over it a little). I think it is fair to say that the chronically homeless probably have mental difficulties, though I agree that the condition itself can cause mental problems too. In either case, there is no reason to dismiss these people as they need help regardless of how they arrived at their position. Really sad, and yeah, the support overall is bad too. So yeah, , the mental clinic closing did not cause homelessness, but it contributed, no doubt, and closed off a possible way off the streets for some.
Raymond, I am sorry about the TBI -- it doesn't show in your writing, which is very clear and organized. I think the idea that people look that bad after two weeks may be true for some street homeless folks. Remember, anyone living on the streets is generally unable to bathe, wash clothing, eat whatever food is medically prescribed, and so on. They are likely feeling very unsafe - not knowing whom to trust, where to sleep, and as a result their sleep is highly disrupted. Certainly they will be anxious, depressed, poorly groomed -- and nowadays social workers are taught that there must be a diagnosis for their agency to claim federal reimbursement, as only disabled people are eligible for some services and/or funding. In my opinion they are over-diagnosing people and those diagnoses often stick. No one should be "diagnosed" while homeless. P.S. I am not saying this applies to your cousin, but I easily climb back on my soapbox! Thanks for your concern -- and for actually reading my speeches.
I write my own speeches as well all the time in little forums like this! How rude to write them but never read anybody else's speech.
As for writing well, I at least made one mistake! It really helps that there is spell check in this substack comment section. Anyway, my uncle, it was, only said the part about it taking two weeks (it might have been less). The rest was from general sources I have read about thanks to my personal interest (fear and sympathy powered )in the subject.
The act of communication was never a problem for me. Every head injury is different they say and some abilities stay and some go. I have a great sense of direction still and even right after my injury while I had a three minute memory I talked nonstop for a day and a half. Every three minutes I had the same questions and the same joke. I thought it was funny every time. I find that really funny as I cannot help laughing at my own jokes even now. Still, I remember when nobody was around I would think, "This bodes not well." Have no idea why that archaic phrase popped into my head. Anyway, in a nice closed in room with nothing else to do, I test extremely well on IQ tests, but actual real life with its distractions cause a lot of problems. (and proves that IQ tests only test certain facets of intelligence).
Also, I was an attorney, and tiny little mistakes all over the place, like reversing the names of who is supposed to do what in a contract, is a bad thing. I could go on about all the strange memory things that went on forever. The worst was the thought of doing something becoming a rock solid false memory of actually doing it!
Anyway, communication was never a problem. In fact, with damage to the executive functioning area came less inhibition about talking to people. I cannot remember a name very well, but I went with the policy that unless the person is a known "bad guy" to me, that person is a friend. And the ability to structure and write is fairly intact, but mistakes worse than typos do creep in insidiously. I may forget an important part of what I am talking about or with the addition or slip of a word, inadvertently say the exact opposite of what I meant to. Still, it will look on the surface, but like a lot of these advice givers on the internet, if you think about their pat phrases, then you realize that just by scratching at what they really mean, there are major flaws!
I also get tired all the time (big part of my own disabled diagnosis). So I might get into a conversation, the brain gets tired quickly but I do not "notice" the fatigue. I just stop noticing social niceties and never actually stop talking. Then when I leave the conversation, I am just hit with a wall of fatigue!
The other really irritating thing is that I can focus on things, but it feels as though I do not choose what I focus on. So I try to do the laundry (which involves coming and going and lots of steps) and get distracted by a magazine or my ipad or the dog looks sad. Poof, I am focused on that, maybe for hours!
I always know quickly what I should be doing when I think about it, but execution is tough. Stopping to think about it is tough too! Kind of like remembering to take your memory pill!
Well, sheesh that was a lot. Must be getting tired, but I wrote it so here it is!
A lot of homelessness in the 80s came about when Legal Aid was cut back, and those with few resources were turned out of their homes for lack of someone to tell them their rights.
When we bailed out banks but not homeowners in 2008, that didnтАЩt help! Businesses buying up housing and turning into into rentals, overbidding and scarfing it right out from under families trying to buy a home is not helping nowтАж
But the homeless population DOES include a great many primarily non-violent people with mental illness issues, too, which tends to color that population with an overlay of such distress.
What is not to understand? Mental illness in this country is treated like a steaming pile of vomit. Everyone walks around and holding their nose but no one wants to clean it up.
IтАЩm no expert but at 81, IтАЩve seen enough societal change to guess at what may have contributed to what appears to be a lack of empathy for those less fortunate than us.
1. Less religion and ethical values being taught in schools or/and homes.
2. Movies and television with unbridled sex, violence and crime having negative effects, especially on youth.
3. Measuring success by how much money one has rather than the good that they do.
Walk around Los Angeles some time and see how many of those poor souls should be treated in mental hospitals! Thanks a bunch, Reagan
ItтАЩs not as simple as equating homelessness with mental illness.
First, homelessness itself is such a stressful experience that many people can feel and look mentally ill and/or self-medicate their situation with drugs/alcohol.
Second, the majority of people who are homeless are not mentally ill; they are unable to afford their rent. 40% of Americans would be unable to secure $400 to pay for a financial crisis. If a person or family list their housing due to job loss, divorce, accident/illness, it can often be impossible for them to pay the high costs of housing start-up тАФ which is often $3-4,000.
Third, the spiral downward is a real thing. People who lose their housing usually тАЬcouch-hopтАЭ but are unable to secure employment or save housing start-up costs. They may or may not (depending on the policies and resources of the state where they live) secure a bed in a shelter. Otherwise they are on the streets.
Fourth, rent increases have outpaced both wages and public benefits. Since Clinton converted AFDC entitlements to TANF state block grants in 1996, cash assistance was frozen in almost every state FOR 25 YEARS. Many States also stopped providing any cash assistance to adults without children or froze benefits for many years at ridiculous amounts - such as $201/month (in my state, one of the тАЬgenerousтАЭ ones). Assistance to folks with a disability is so low that there is not one county in the US where they can afford a one-bedroom apartment.
Rent subsidies are so underfunded and over-regulated that people who are eligible wait years - and three out of four never get help. Even those lucky enough to receive a subsidy can often see their subsidy lost if no landlord will accept governmental subsidies within a short period of time.
Of course there is more, but I will get off my soapbox now! I know that there is so much misinformation about homelessness out thereтАжI just canтАЩt help but offer TMI (which may be NEI - not enough information!).
My thanks to anyone who reads through my latest diatribe!
A relative of mime who is a social worker says that after a week or two, any newly homeless person will likely look like they have been homeless forever. That said, some people are homeless when times are good. I have a brain injury, and if my wife ever decided the burden of me was too much, I can easily see myself homeless as my symptoms make me into the ultimate incompetent. I forget things, lose focus, make mistakes, and to too it off have very little energy. No doubt I will have lots of typos in this message (though it helps that I am thinking about it so at least I read over it a little). I think it is fair to say that the chronically homeless probably have mental difficulties, though I agree that the condition itself can cause mental problems too. In either case, there is no reason to dismiss these people as they need help regardless of how they arrived at their position. Really sad, and yeah, the support overall is bad too. So yeah, , the mental clinic closing did not cause homelessness, but it contributed, no doubt, and closed off a possible way off the streets for some.
Raymond, I am sorry about the TBI -- it doesn't show in your writing, which is very clear and organized. I think the idea that people look that bad after two weeks may be true for some street homeless folks. Remember, anyone living on the streets is generally unable to bathe, wash clothing, eat whatever food is medically prescribed, and so on. They are likely feeling very unsafe - not knowing whom to trust, where to sleep, and as a result their sleep is highly disrupted. Certainly they will be anxious, depressed, poorly groomed -- and nowadays social workers are taught that there must be a diagnosis for their agency to claim federal reimbursement, as only disabled people are eligible for some services and/or funding. In my opinion they are over-diagnosing people and those diagnoses often stick. No one should be "diagnosed" while homeless. P.S. I am not saying this applies to your cousin, but I easily climb back on my soapbox! Thanks for your concern -- and for actually reading my speeches.
I write my own speeches as well all the time in little forums like this! How rude to write them but never read anybody else's speech.
As for writing well, I at least made one mistake! It really helps that there is spell check in this substack comment section. Anyway, my uncle, it was, only said the part about it taking two weeks (it might have been less). The rest was from general sources I have read about thanks to my personal interest (fear and sympathy powered )in the subject.
The act of communication was never a problem for me. Every head injury is different they say and some abilities stay and some go. I have a great sense of direction still and even right after my injury while I had a three minute memory I talked nonstop for a day and a half. Every three minutes I had the same questions and the same joke. I thought it was funny every time. I find that really funny as I cannot help laughing at my own jokes even now. Still, I remember when nobody was around I would think, "This bodes not well." Have no idea why that archaic phrase popped into my head. Anyway, in a nice closed in room with nothing else to do, I test extremely well on IQ tests, but actual real life with its distractions cause a lot of problems. (and proves that IQ tests only test certain facets of intelligence).
Also, I was an attorney, and tiny little mistakes all over the place, like reversing the names of who is supposed to do what in a contract, is a bad thing. I could go on about all the strange memory things that went on forever. The worst was the thought of doing something becoming a rock solid false memory of actually doing it!
Anyway, communication was never a problem. In fact, with damage to the executive functioning area came less inhibition about talking to people. I cannot remember a name very well, but I went with the policy that unless the person is a known "bad guy" to me, that person is a friend. And the ability to structure and write is fairly intact, but mistakes worse than typos do creep in insidiously. I may forget an important part of what I am talking about or with the addition or slip of a word, inadvertently say the exact opposite of what I meant to. Still, it will look on the surface, but like a lot of these advice givers on the internet, if you think about their pat phrases, then you realize that just by scratching at what they really mean, there are major flaws!
I also get tired all the time (big part of my own disabled diagnosis). So I might get into a conversation, the brain gets tired quickly but I do not "notice" the fatigue. I just stop noticing social niceties and never actually stop talking. Then when I leave the conversation, I am just hit with a wall of fatigue!
The other really irritating thing is that I can focus on things, but it feels as though I do not choose what I focus on. So I try to do the laundry (which involves coming and going and lots of steps) and get distracted by a magazine or my ipad or the dog looks sad. Poof, I am focused on that, maybe for hours!
I always know quickly what I should be doing when I think about it, but execution is tough. Stopping to think about it is tough too! Kind of like remembering to take your memory pill!
Well, sheesh that was a lot. Must be getting tired, but I wrote it so here it is!
ABSOLUTELY!
A lot of homelessness in the 80s came about when Legal Aid was cut back, and those with few resources were turned out of their homes for lack of someone to tell them their rights.
When we bailed out banks but not homeowners in 2008, that didnтАЩt help! Businesses buying up housing and turning into into rentals, overbidding and scarfing it right out from under families trying to buy a home is not helping nowтАж
But the homeless population DOES include a great many primarily non-violent people with mental illness issues, too, which tends to color that population with an overlay of such distress.
Lorraine--In this day and time I don't understand how our society can allow the misuse we see every day of our mentally ill.
What is not to understand? Mental illness in this country is treated like a steaming pile of vomit. Everyone walks around and holding their nose but no one wants to clean it up.
Or simply тАЬhelp.тАЭ
Ilene--That is what I don't understand.
IтАЩm no expert but at 81, IтАЩve seen enough societal change to guess at what may have contributed to what appears to be a lack of empathy for those less fortunate than us.
1. Less religion and ethical values being taught in schools or/and homes.
2. Movies and television with unbridled sex, violence and crime having negative effects, especially on youth.
3. Measuring success by how much money one has rather than the good that they do.