Essay On Homeless Community
When walking through a major city, have you ever wondered why most of the homeless community seems to suffer from a mental disability? The truth is over 50% of the homeless suffer from mental illness; in fact, the rise in mental illness in the homeless community can be traced as a direct impact from the Reagan administration from the mid 1980’s. After becoming elected, former president Reagan passed several acts which deliberately released hundreds of thousands of uncured mentally ill patients from secure institutions by defunding most mental health services. Almost five decades later, we see the repercussions of those acts in the form of homelessness, which has risen by 26% in major urban cities, and nearly 50% of homeless citizens suffer
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from mental illness. Even though many shelter services work to ease this epidemic across the nation 24/7, the scarce funds cannot sustain the majority of the population, thus it becomes a losing battle. It is clear that the Reagan administration made a grave mistake by defunding mental health institutions. Therefore, the government should work towards overruling both LPS and Stewart B. McKinney Acts and restoring the necessary funding of $80 billion for mental health services once allocated by former president Carter.
In the late 70’s former president Carter passed the Mental Health Systems Act which fully funded mental health services with $80 billion in funds.
However, after president Reagan took office in 1981, he repealed the act and passed the Stewart B. McKinney Act leaving a mere $800 million in shelter assistance funding. Months later, the nation took notice and The New York Times labeled deinstitutionalization “a cruel embarrassment, a reform gone terribly wrong.” It has been documented that throughout the 80’s over 290,000 patients became homeless. Shutting down major institutions meant creating hundreds of board-and-care homes across the country in which mentally ill patients were found to be victimized and abused. A case arose in 1982 in which nine adults were confined in a 10 by 10 foot building deprived of both a bathroom and running water. Everyone was forced to use a single bucket in which to defecate. In 1984, seven former patients lived the same lifestyle of mistreatment, however a fire sparked and none of the residents survived. Since 1980, homelessness has risen by 50% and a study conducted in 2015 found that 26% of the homeless population suffers from one or more mental illness. Data has proven homelessness to have been kickstarted by the Reagan administration by defunding mental health services nationwide. Many saw the reform necessary to reduce taxes, however the repercussions created a phenomenon that will likely never be solved, but can be heavily aided by
repealing the necessary acts passed by the Reagan administration.
from mental illness. Even though many shelter services work to ease this epidemic across the nation 24/7, the scarce funds cannot sustain the majority of the population, thus it becomes a losing battle. It is clear that the Reagan administration made a grave mistake by defunding mental health institutions. Therefore, the government should work towards overruling both LPS and Stewart B. McKinney Acts and restoring the necessary funding of $80 billion for mental health services once allocated by former president Carter.
In the late 70’s former president Carter passed the Mental Health Systems Act which fully funded mental health services with $80 billion in funds.
However, after president Reagan took office in 1981, he repealed the act and passed the Stewart B. McKinney Act leaving a mere $800 million in shelter assistance funding. Months later, the nation took notice and The New York Times labeled deinstitutionalization “a cruel embarrassment, a reform gone terribly wrong.” It has been documented that throughout the 80’s over 290,000 patients became homeless. Shutting down major institutions meant creating hundreds of board-and-care homes across the country in which mentally ill patients were found to be victimized and abused. A case arose in 1982 in which nine adults were confined in a 10 by 10 foot building deprived of both a bathroom and running water. Everyone was forced to use a single bucket in which to defecate. In 1984, seven former patients lived the same lifestyle of mistreatment, however a fire sparked and none of the residents survived. Since 1980, homelessness has risen by 50% and a study conducted in 2015 found that 26% of the homeless population suffers from one or more mental illness. Data has proven homelessness to have been kickstarted by the Reagan administration by defunding mental health services nationwide. Many saw the reform necessary to reduce taxes, however the repercussions created a phenomenon that will likely never be solved, but can be heavily aided by
repealing the necessary acts passed by the Reagan administration.