I’m pretty sure it’s been well documented that a staggering proportion of the homeless are mentally ill. Especially since most of the insane asylums or mental health facilities across the nation have been shut down over the years.
A heartless society can never provide a true hearth for anyone. The projects in the US and Council Housing in England were well-intentioned – Francis Cardinal George mentions what happened in his diocese when the projects were slated for destruction: many people, despite all the problems, were rooted in them, they knew their neighbors, who they could go to for help, etc.
The shutting down of the (name removed by moderator)atient facilities for mental illness. is a major reason. Even if a person is truly unable to care for themselves, there is simply no place to send them. That and substance abuse are the two main reasons for homelessness. I was on the board of a shelter that only took in families (there had to be at least one child and one or two adults) where you would expect a lower percentage of mental illness/substance abuse than for the usual shelter that mostly houses single men. Unfortunately it was same song, different verse. Most of the parents had drug problems, couldn’t keep a job and couldn’t get housing due to criminal records or dreadful credit. Our executive director was a specialist in dual diagnosis and said virtually all of our clients had one or the other, about half of them both. Our mission was more to do what we could to protect the children.
And they are probably living without their meds.
Unfortunately homelessness will never end, even Christ said " you will always have the poor, but I will only be with you for a short while " ( a very rough paraphrase ) . So with that in mind what is society doing ?
This is beyond true, if " society " could do anything it is provide a facility for those with a real mental illness that have no one to support them or be cared for, and more over what happens is there is stories of time an again of cruel situations called " patient dumping " ; where someone who is homeless or has a mental illness goes in for medical treatment, an said facility is exhausted and has no common sense on to find help for the individual, gives up and then drives the person to a corner or bus stop and back on the streets they go.
Hi lots of good points and I think many of us on CAF do volunteer. Our Parish got together with several other Parishes and a few Protestant churches to sponsor a hot meal program. We dont call it a soup kitchen because we set tables, people are served and our volunteers sit down with our guests and chat. We have some folks that are returnees and the servers get to know them. (I work in the kitchen on clean up). We also have a food pantry, actually it was up and running before the church was built! Our youth have periodic short missions such as at a shelter downtown where there are a lot of the usual profile homeless and poor, single men with substance abuse issues mostly. One of my favorite volunteer gigs is at a charity that puts together clothing collections for kids in foster care or low income or homeless families. We also help by donating clothes. One thing about Catholic families, you can get lots of kids’ stuff!
Pretty much spot on, I don’t think there are any easy or definitive answers out there.
Yet another conundrum…I heard that a single mom in Pennsylvania had to earn the equivalent of $60.000 a year to provide an equal standard of living to her state and federal benefits. Not likely given that many do not even have a high school diploma much less a professional degree or even skilled trade credentials.Pretty much spot on, I don’t think there are any easy or definitive answers out there.
There was a great article recently about a charity org that focused on rehabilitating a homeless drug addict into a drug free, working, self-sufficient, active member of society. He was a shining success story, but upon analysis they realized it was something like $20-30k they had to invest in him, to bring that about. Pardon my memory, can’t recall the exact figure, but it was in that ball park. Reflecting upon that, and how many fail during that turnaround process, it warranted some serious questions about how they currently go about rehabilitating people.
That was a person whom was physically and mentally capable of working; once clear of drugs, educated, mentored, and had a support network.
There are countless people whom are not physically or mentally capable of working… and no long term solutions available, with our current state of mental health in this country.
No easy answers…
On a side note, I’m familiar with the Director of an organization which helps people rehabilitate as well. Similar to the organization, above. A few years ago they had a single mother (with a number of children) who they helped through counseling, sheltering, child care, mentoring, and education as well. She was right at the brim of becoming of becoming a self-sufficient mother with a professional career. Except, having finally finished up her degree, they realized if she takes a professional job… she’d lose everything… She’d be just barely over the income threshold, which would remove her from the subsidized housing. She’d lose the subsidized child care. She’d lose the medical coverage of her children, and she wouldn’t be able to afford the corporate plan for her children (she had a handful). It would have been only a few years, as she established her career… but unsustainable at entry level career wages. Yet, they couldn’t help her during that transition, due to their Federal guidelines. Reluctantly, they acknowledged that the woman essentially had to return to a near minimum wage dead end job, and remain in a housing project. That was their worst case story, but an example that’s fairly common. We recently had a guest speaker at our parish talking about a new charity organization, seeking to help with that transitional phase - it’s apparently somewhat common.
That perhaps, is the most ideal long term solution… Getting there, is a whole other mine field.
Indeed…too bad we can’t bring back good old shame. It used to be socially unacceptable to impregnate a woman and abandon her and the child. It used to be socially unacceptable for a woman to be sexually active and get pregnant before marriage.That perhaps, is the most ideal long term solution… Getting there, is a whole other mine field.
