What about the portions of our homeless that are veterans of Vietnam? The first conflict in the Persian Gulf war?
The homeless, in general, are an enormous part of our population that we largely try to ignore. Many of them are mentally ill, but because of funding cuts and deinstitutionalization, they no longer have access to mental health systems that might have helped them once upon a time. Lots of them have substance abuse problems, but because they have no means to pay for treatment, they go untreated.
Many of these people could be contributing members of society--want to be contributing members of society--if they could get the help they needed, be it housing, treatment, or job search services. And some are incapable of being part of normal society--yet we have created a system where there is no longer any publicly funded place for them. We have created a system of adult foster homes that only work for the severely disabled--and so many people slip through the cracks.
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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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