Aileen Xie

Larks

English Accelerated 3-4

3 March 2020

Social Justice Editorial: Mental Illness in the Homeless

Irony lies in the fact that the richest state in the richest nation falls so far behind in

properly housing and healing so many of its people—over the years, the homeless population

of the Bay Area has been accounted for a mental health crisis. About a fifth of America’s 1.7

million homeless population suffer from untreated schizophrenia or depression. In turn, the

madness on the streets keeps growing. Debates over repealing which of the hundreds of CA’s

anti-homelessness laws only serve to push the urgency further into delay. As the problem

becomes more dire, leaving room for more mentally disabled people to occupy the streets, a

proactive solution is needed, even if out of enforcement: the most serious of mentally ill must

be submitted into treatment.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports 4,000 of the SFO’s homeless are suffering from a

lack of emotional stability, also laying bare city departments having inadequately treated the

200 sickest patients. An annual questionnaire of LA’s homeless people reports 67 percent of

4,000 participants suffering from some sort of mental illness or substance abuse. Leland senior

Meghna Chandrasekar offers an origin to the crisis, stating that the mental illness stems from

these homeless people having already suffered from early on. Massive system change is

overdue, and many suggest providing the most serious cases with housing and treatment

services. However, there is an obstruction to this suggestion: only a few of the city’s mentally ill
unsheltered qualify for involuntary care under current state law, and more than half of them

refuse to accept the care.

Forcing those who refuse to accept the care, despite sounding less humanitarian, is the

best way out. CA Governor Gavin Newsom proposes forcing the homeless into treatment,

according to KPBS. By lowering the legal bar for providing treatment, building more homeless

shelters, and expanding conservatorship programs, Newsom hopes to turn around California’s

past history of negligence. Forcing the severely ill and addicted into state-instituted hospitals

and centers at least gives them the chance: it seems a matter of common sense that sleeping

indoors and seeking recovery is better than commuting from tent to tent on the streets. “It’s

much safer for these homeless to stay indoors rather than outside, where external factors could

trigger their mental conditions,” History teacher Mr. Barros said.

However, not everyone is on board with the approach. English teacher Mrs. Dawson

stated, “Forcing these mentally ill homeless into hospitals isn’t the right solution. American

institutions should create ideal spaces available and accessible for these patients to heal at their

own pace, and take inspiration from mental health institutions in Europe, where whole

communities rather than hospitals serve as homes for these people.” As stated by The

Washington Post, ACLU’s disability rights program director, Susan Mizner, worries that this

notion is too restrictive on the patients’ freedoms: they’ll be locked in a room, forced to

swallow medications. In light of refuting forced treatment, the situation is less concerned with

economic factors but more about the humane side that worries about the patients’ well-being.

Nonetheless, Angelica Almeida, director of the Dept. of Public Health, says that the new law
allows her and colleagues to supply long-term relief for patients on their journey to recovery.

She promises to ensure patients with a philanthropic lifestyle.

Senior Adrian Rafizadeh suggests a bi-faceted approach to the mental illness crisis. “Any

policy to reduce homelessness should address the two main causes of homelessness: mental

illness and being priced out. Regarding mental illness, it’s important to pursue stronger

conservatorship and assisted outpatient treatment like Laura’s Law. These laws would allow for

family members or local judges to give care to mentally ill people who reject the help that they

need. It’s also important to increase the supply of housing. Regulations like rent control and

zoning laws, which limit the number of new units being built, should be repealed.”

When faced with an overwhelming crisis, where the value of human life is on the line,

certain sacrifices must be made. Forcing the homeless into treatment does not equal

malevolence: the unsheltered deserve the same basic rights as any normal citizen. Where to

draw the line between hasty solutions and maltreatment comes down to how to treat any living

person, regardless of whether they’re less fortunate or not.

714 words

Bibliography:

Wiener, J. (n.d.). "We've lost our compass." For California's most visible mentally ill, is a return

to forced treatment a solution - or a false promise? Retrieved from

https://calmatters.org/projects/mentally-ill-forced-treatment-conservatorship-california-

debate/
Donovan-Smith, O. (2019, June 7). San Francisco plans to force mentally ill addicts into a system

critics call ripe for abuses. Retrieved from

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/06/07/san-francisco-plans-force-mentally-ill-

addicts-into-system-critics-call-ripe-abuses/

Are many homeless people in L.A. mentally ill? New findings back the public's perception.
(2019, October 7). Retrieved from https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-10-
07/homeless-population-mental-illness-disability

Editorial: Forcing homeless people into mental health treatment isn't the way to solve
homelessness. (2020, January 28). Retrieved from
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-01-28/homeless-people-mental-health-
treatment-homelessness

Beam, A., & Thompson, D. (2020, February 19). California Governor: Lower Bar For Forced
Mental Health Care. Retrieved from https://www.kpbs.org/news/2020/feb/19/california-
governor-address-homelessness-mental-he/

Fracassa, D., & Thadani, T. (2019, September 4). SF counts 4,000 homeless, addicted and
mentally ill, but timeline for help still unclear. Retrieved from
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/SF-counts-4-000-homeless-addicted-and-
mentally-14412061.php