bit of Reagan-esque propaganda (suggesting that increased spending on the homeless somehow 'caused' the increase in the homeless population), when the reality as presented in the article is EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE, i.e., homelessness increased DESPITE increased funding for homeless services.

It's no big surprise that homeless people move to cities where the weather isn't going to kill them and the dumpsters are full of food.

The Cities get the brunt of the impact. If you increase funding, you become a magnet of sorts - more services, more tolerance.

But although Utah has all sorts of services for the homeless, my daughter did not want to migrate to Salt Lake city ( for some reason)...

There are plenty of homeless people in California who are escaping various hells in their home states, places where people worship cruel and capricious gods and torture or exile their own children, LGBT people, mentally ill people, substance abusers... it's a long list.

my point is that cities bear the brunt of the cost of this crisis, and also the societal impact.

and you are correct, this is also a crisis of migration - and therefore the feds should pay the cities. but since the GOP holds the pursestrings hostage, there will be no help forthcoming.

the homeless are leaving Red states and travelling to the Blue. they like this, because 1. out of sight of their constituents, out of mind, and 2. it gives them the opportunity to accuse liberals of laziness, coddling, etc.

I have a mentally ill family member who has been homeless off and on for half her life (mostly on). I guess my question is, has mental illness become worse or more widespread and, if so, why is that? Is it environmental?

once you lose housing, the hurdle to get back in is insurmountable for the homeless, mentally ill or not: 1st & last month's rent, fees, credit checks, background checks, etc.

there are not more mentally ill people as a % of the population, but there are probably more overall because the population grows.

But Reagan killed that.

What is your point?

Why are you picking on the people trying to deal with mental and physical health issues?

Did you know many are disabled and cannot access the public health system?

Have you ever been homeless or near homeless?

It is not a vacation.

He was president between 1981 and 1989. It has been 27 years since he left office. Nevertheless, deinstitutionalization was a policy set in motion by the Community Mental Health Act as a part of John F. Kennedy's legislation and passed by the U.S. Congress in 1963. I find it hard to believe that in the past 53 years we have not been able to come up with a better plan.

I am not picking on anyone. I have a mentally ill daughter about whom I worry every single day. She is schizophrenic, bipolar and likely suffers from PTSD. She can and does often get SSI and can get access to medical treatment; however, she does not like the side effects of antipsychotic or psychotropic drugs and will not take them unless forced to.

It seems there are a lot people in society joining her ranks, though, and I wonder why that is?

San Diego is a pretty decent place for it. The whole west coast of California is pretty good for that matter. Most places you won't freeze or die from heat exhaustion. The residents, for the most part, are non-aggressive and there are a lot of cast off food items that also survive in the weather fairly well.

I would certainly rather be homeless there than in Utah where the winter can easily kill you.