Mentally ill homeless people used to be committed to asylums. Today, why not require them to live in local supervised living quarters? They'd take their meds, get off booze, wouldn’t freeze or starve, and wouldn’t be a public nuisance.
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ANSWERS: 11
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That would be a humane response to this growing problem. It is unfortunate that this is not common practice. I am sure you know why.
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A problem with how people with mental illness were treated and are still treated today, is that people judge people with mental illness to be second class citizens. I think better social services need to be developed to help people with mental illness develop independence and self-worth. I don't think 'requiring' anyone to do anything against their will is productive--I don't think it will help people recover/grow. A lot of mental illnesses are more complex than simply taking meds. For instance, a NORMAL response to experiencing trauma is developing a mental illness (e.g. dissociation, bipolar). Treatment needs to be matched with each individuals specific needs. Social services need to account for this, and I think each society/country/community needs to develop healthier responses--and that means not simply requiring people to do things.
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Back in the day, asylums were mostly run by churches or private groups. With increasing oversight by gov. in response to some abuses and poor conditions, it became too difficult for many of these institutions to comply. Left now to social services not nearly enough service is provided. Government sucks at taking care of people...PERIOD.
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Maybe because if it was enforced by the government, it would take too much money. As I'm sure you know, we are in extreme debt. Would you want taxes to increase to pay for these homeless people with mental illness? I think that it's a good idea, just the program would lack funding unless there was some charity or something to fund the program. I also think that psychiatric care for soldiers when they are done in the service should be mandatory to prevent PTSD. But that would also cost too much money to fund.
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The biggst problem in dealing with homeless mentally ill people is that a large portion of them do not want any help. In many instances they are homeless by choice, choosing to leave all responsibility behind. I know there are exceptions to this, just as there are with any societal problem, but how would you go about getting them to be "required" to live anywhere? First off, homeless people are not counted (only estimated) in any census and there are no known statistics on exactly how many of them there are, and where they are, and what their diagnoses are. Rounding them all up would be a Herculean effort in and of itself. I do understand your point and agree that it would be a Utopian fix if all the mentally ill homeless people could be cared for properly, but I just don't see how that could happen. No one has the money for it firstly, and secondly, if you let the government take care of, it would cost 200 times more than if it were an enterprise undertaken by private individuals or corporations. Further, there is no profit margin to be gained by anyone. I see THAT as the biggest obstacle.
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Where I live the reason the mentally ill are homeless is because the government in their stupid wisdom figured they could live on their own. So they closed the institusions down, and the ones that could live on their own on welfare in apartments had care givers coming in every day or 2 to check up on them. I think it cost the tax payers more in the end. The ones that couldn't live on their own are on the streets get robbed and eating out of the garbage cans.
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I've read some really good answers and comments on this issue. My personal experience has been very poor with this issue. Many of these persons do not feel there is anything wrong with them and will not stay on their meds. A person I know has spent 30 years wandering around mentally ill because she doesn't take her meds unless she is closely supervised and is not the type you can keep locked up all the time. A real problem that almost requires full time monitoring. You can't keep people locked up all the time. The "least restrictive environment" laws were what caused the old institutions to close (and good thing). Caring for people in the community is now the thing to do. But, many of them do not want supervised living and have a right to live their lives. Result = many homeless. We need a decent solution.
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It happen where i live to some extent... care in the community... but a lot of stupid people don't live it, and there is not nearly enough support...it would work if it was run properly... I'm all for helping the homeless, but not enough people are - some people think that they are lazy, and it makes me angry. I'm also for mental health support, but yet again...
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You shouldn't force people to enter asylums against their will. I was forced into an asylum and it was the most traumatic event of my life. I know people think welfare is just giving handouts but the majority of homeless people didn't choose do be homeless and dependent on government aid. I think more welfare and better social services would greatly reduce the problem. But, hey, when does the public ever want to try what will actually work.
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You'd be holding them against their will and people don't like that.
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my sister lives in one of those places, she has mental issues and they check up on her all the time
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