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J-Team07 t1_j6l3247 wrote

Reply to comment by mrbridgeburner in McPherson Square homeless camp to be cleared two months early, NPS says by Ruze42

State run mental Institutions where shut down because modern pharmaceuticals had the potential to allow for community based care and maintenance. No one seemed to factor in that there would be a significant portion of the mentally ill who would not take their medication and that population would be exacerbated by modern drugs that were developed.

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Agirlisarya01 t1_j6laajc wrote

No one also seemed to factor in that community based care would require funding and logistical support. That somehow never materialized. They just cut the institutionalized loose with no resources and no support.

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resdivinae t1_j6ml3p9 wrote

No, people absolutely factored this in. Hence the MHSA of 1980. Reagan, however, never did anything with it.

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J-Team07 t1_j6mngn5 wrote

I bet it costs less to put someone in a mental hospital than jail.

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monagw t1_j6n5e0q wrote

The problem was that communities didn't want these mental health facilities. Blaming Reagan for the current homeless crisis is so silly.

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resdivinae t1_j6n647r wrote

That was part of the problem, yes. I don't pin the homeless crisis entirely on Reagan, although I think his repealing most of the MHSA in '81 was a contributing factor.

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monagw t1_j6n8drm wrote

How is this a contributing factor of any consequence for homelessness in 2023? Democratic presidents, governors and mayors could easily have restored funding to the local mental health centers defunded by the repeal of the MHSA. Why didn't they? Could be that communities resisted these centers?

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resdivinae t1_j6ndl0u wrote

Apart for the humane concerns, another major impetus behind deinstitutionalization was the cost of running asylums and facilities. The MHSA was intended to supplement state provisions with federal grants to support and maintain community mental health facilities. When those federal grants fell through, many states just didn't bother with expanding mental health facilities on their own provisions. I'm sure it's the case that some communities resisted these facilities, but that is not always an impediment. DC, for example, recently built and refurbished homeless shelters in every city ward.

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