Many homeless may be mentally ill, or addicts, but I don't honestly think it's the majority.
For instance, Joy Junction (a local shelter) is up by like 200% this year. So either a lot of people went nuts, got addicted to alcohol or drugs (sorta part of "rough times", but I feel, more a symptom than a cause), or else being homeless relates to income/available assistance. There's lots of people who are only homeless for a period of time, "transients" if you will. Heh. Anyways, here in NM, a nutter killed 2 cops and a few citizens, and so we passed one of those "we'll force you to get treatment, adult or no" which is a slippery slope, IMHO, but whatever. My main point is that people's conception of "homeless", seems to be not quite what reality reflects. Or something like that. But, to get to your point-- I have no idea how Obama's plan would affect the status quo. :) -- We die in proportion to the words we fling around us. Emile M. Cioran On Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 5:44 AM, Cameron Childress wrote: > > I am curious - not because I am looking to start an argument over it > (though I am sure that will happen in about 2 more messages), but > because I am curious... > > In recent threads we talked about how many homeless were mentally ill. > I wonder how many of these folks, who are not getting help today, > would get help under Obama's plan? The most severe cases of mental > illness cause a real threat to public safety - getting the proper care > helps them and also helps the general public. > > I guess there is also the matter of forcing someone to get mental > health help they don't want. In my experience, those who are a real > threat to public safety DO NOT get long term help. I understand that > this is partly because in most cases an individual cannot be forced > into treatment, but is also partly because of lack of resources. > > -Cameron > > ... > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:307434 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
