The Intersectional Misery of Mental Illness and Homelessness

Mental illness and homelessness intersect to form a wicked problem. So wicked that contemporary solutions are little better than they were 300 years ago when towns relied on jails to provide meals and a bed to those whose behavior was “strange” and their families would not or could not care for them. Current estimates are that two-thirds of those who are unhoused need supportive living facilities and mental health care. From reliance on jails, to the establishment of state-operated psychiatric hospitals, to deinstitutionalization, to reliance on jails and camping on the street, the problem has come full circle.