Byberry Mental Hospital, Philadelphia's House of Horrors
It seems to me there are four types of homeless people. People traumatized by an event in their adulthod such that they can no longer function, like veterans. Another is people who had incredibly bad luck, or a bad spouse, or a health care crisis, often women. Another is people who abuse drugs, either before or after becoming homeless. It seems like we have potential solutions to solve at least the first two, meaning those two groups might respond to housing and treatment, and there are some funded institutions (veterans hospitals and charities, churches) that can assist in a variety of ways. The third category we might solve by trying different methods than just criminalizing them, treating it as a healthcare issue, there are some innovative attempts in Canada and Europe (not so much in the US, IMHO).<p>The fourth category seems to be people that are severely mentally ill (there is probably some cross over with the abusing of drugs, but I don&#x27;t think that is a moral failing). Without things like mental hospitals, we cannot effectively care for them, their families cannot care for them, and their impact on society is immense.<p>I think about the book &quot;One Flew Over a Cuckoos Nest&quot; which documents the horrors of an asylum. I believe this was the moment in US society when we started getting rid of those types of hospitals, and people that relied on them, both families and the people suffering from the illness themselves, were dumped into society to fend for themselves.<p>Is this an accurate assessment? I feel like we won&#x27;t be able to tackle homelessness until we address this elephant in the room, and who is going to want to care for these people. It seems like we must as a society address this, it isn&#x27;t something that can be solved in a small scale.