Homelessness knotted in mental illness

Our beloved city of San Fransisco is home to approximately 7,000 homeless residents. We watch them make a house of the streets, in the cold as they argue with the voices in their head. According to a 2015 assessment by the Department of Housing and Urban development, 564,708 found themselves sleeping on the street on a given night in the United States. 25% of those people were diagnosed as seriously mentally ill, and 45% were diagnosed with any mental illness. Mental Illness not understood, or not dealt with through coping mechanisms leads to cognitive and behavioral problems that makes it difficult to to earn a stable income and be able to carry out stable housing. The combination of mental illness and homelessness can lead to other factors including increased alcohol consumption and drug abuse. Un dealt with mental illness can cause the person to try and self medicate using drugs, because seeking medical attention can cost too much. Studies show that the traumatic event of getting thrown into the street heavily influences a persons symptoms of mental illness. It relates to higher levels of psychiatric stress, higher levels of drug abuse, and a lower perceived rate of recovery. There are more people with untreated severe psychiatric illnesses living on the streets then there are receiving care in hospitals. In relation,"Dumping patients out of hospitals and into the streets may save the health system money, but increases overall cost to taxpayers by shifting care to more expensive jails and prisons." Homelessness also increases their chances of coming in contact with the law. Putting people away to shield the publics eyes solves nothing and is never the solution. The streets are incredibly unsafe, especially with someone in such a vulnerable state. A 1988 report on homeless women in San Fransisco noted that women were being assaulted at a petrifying rate, with some women being raped as many as 17 times. To protect themselves, homeless women were known to wear 10 pairs of panty hose at once and bundle up in layers of clothing. Those who are visibly mentally ill are easy marks for thieves and criminals. Those that are psychotic are significantly more likely to be robbed, beaten, injured, and/or threatened with a weapon. Albert Blanchard, a homeless man from Nashville with a long history of schizophrenia and homelessness was set on fire as he slept on the sidewalk. His sister was noted saying " Alberts paranoia would not allow him to stay in one place for long. He chose to live in the streets to keep the people the voices warned him of from finding him." Albert spent more than 6 months in the hospital and had 8 separate surgeries as a result of the attack. This goes to show a backlight on the issue of homelessness. Not everyone can provide stability for themselves, and for some it can't be left up to them to do so.