Mental Illness

     Of the single adult homeless population, 20 - 25% have some form of mental illness. This high rate of mentally ill people among the homeless population is not due to  severely mentally ill people that are let loose by institutions.  Severe mental illness stops people from completing daily essential aspects of life.  Those homeless who are mentally ill tend to have poorer physical health, less contact with friends and relatives, and more contact with the legal system.  Studies done by a Federal Task Force in 1992 indicate that, of the mentally ill homeless, only 5-7% need to be institutionalized.  Most of the mentally ill homeless can live on their own with community based treatment services.  These people are willing to get help, but not enough of these programs exist.
     People with severe mental illness and substance abuse problems need to be treated in the same ways.  Along with treatment services, affordable housing in the right community environment is often a essential step in ending their homelessness.  Significant daily activity, like work, is also very important in their rehabilitation.  Lastly, the mentally ill homeless need long term follow-up to ensure their reentry into society is not short lived.
     There are a number of ways in which we can prevent the mentally ill from becoming homeless.  There must be community based treatment services.  The Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH) is one such program.  However, theprogram is in desperate need of funding.  The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) should be raised.  Without increased benefit levels many mentally ill Americans will be forced into homelessness.  Finally, they need to live as independently as possible.  The mentally ill homeless can not become institutionalized.
     An example of a typical mentally ill homeless person is Betty (or Fannie, as she sometimes likes to be called).  Betty is a heavy-set black woman who stands in front of an ice cream parlor every day, even in the coldest weather.  She wears three or four layers of dirty clothes that don’t fit her, and her hair is incredibly matted.  Her legs are very swollen, and she continually talks to herself.  The smell coming from her is vile.  Betty considers this spot her home. She ventures over to the garbage can only when no one is looking, for fear that someone would take her ‘spot’.  Betty eats out of the garbage or what the restaurant throws out.  She could very well have been a former mental patient, but without the proper treatment…Well, she will most likely remain on the streets.  Betty has basically “lost touch with reality as we perceive it”.  She is one of the unfortunate people without supervised care or treatment for her illness.  Betty is one of the hardest people to help, because there is rarely enough room in shelters, and she would probably more abused in a shelter than on the street (Kosof 39).