Happily Ever After

Doesnt Come On the

Streets
Salt Lake Community College
McKinnah Curtis

McKinnah Curtis
English 2010
March 30, 2015
Report
Happily Ever After Doesnt Come on the Streets
A 54 year-old man, Walter, lives in

going. He often avoided homeless shelters,

DC and suffers from schizophrenia. At the

afraid of the type of people that were often

age of 19 he became symptomatic and didnt

there. These fears became true one night

realize he was sick, he thought it was more

when a group of men at a shelter he went to

of a spiritual nature. The road to recovery

sneaked alcohol in and got drunk. They then

included decades of poverty, dealings with

state psychiatric institutions, twenty four
different doctors, and prolonged times of
homelessness. Having a mental disorder and
living on the streets can be a terrifying
experience. Walters days were filled with
long walks and prayer, occasional
interventions by police who took him to
psychiatric hospitals, and violence. He
didnt understand what he was going
through and didnt eat properly. He often
found himself praying to keep himself

beat Walter so badly they broke his jaw.

experience formed a mistrust of the

psychiatric care industry. He wouldnt
overcome this for years.
About a decade later, a new and
different organization is helping Walter stay
off the streets. Pathways to Housing is one
of DCs mental health provider networks.
Walter received notice that he qualified for
the program while he was in the hospital.
They found him an apartment, taught him
how to shop and cook, helped with
interviewing for jobs, and were a friend.
Walter also received Medicaid and the
correct medical help to keep his
schizophrenia under control.

Walter cycled through a lot of

psychiatric facilities when he was homeless
and they kept him drugged. The first
hospital he checked himself into as a teen
forcefully medicated him. He didnt want to
take medicine because he thought of it as not
pure. So they began to give him a shot that
left him unconscious for three days. This

Walter is now in recovery through

Pathways to Housing DC. He is the father of
a five-year-old girl, interviewing for jobs,
and his son just graduated from college
(Mukherjee). Walters sad story ended with
a happy ending, but most dont get their
happily ever after.

History

The approach that came about was

Mentally ill homeless didnt always

one called deinstitutionalization. It began in

wander the streets. Until about 40 years ago,

the early 1960s, many of the mentally ill

the mentally ill were in mental hospitals

were moved out of state hospitals and sent

unless being cared for by loved ones.

back to their families. They were usually

During the 1950s, an average of about

placed in smaller low-quality facilities; they

700,000 adults, or about 468 of every

were given short psychiatric care or just

100,000 adults in the United States, were in

released onto the streets.

state mental hospitals, according to The

Homeless, a landmark book published in
1994 and written by Christopher Jencks, a
Harvard professor of social policy
(Hermann). Conditions in these hospitals
however, were often times appalling and
advocates for the mentally ill demanded for
other approaches.

When Medicaid was established in

1965 and Supplemental Security Income in
1972, both giving financial aid to the poor,
deinstitutionalization accelerated. They
thought government could pay for their
housing, but them staying in housing was
another story. That same year, the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled in O'Connor vs.
Donaldson that mental illness alone wasn't

sufficient justification for involuntary

debilitating if left untreated (Jervis).

commitment. It became illegal to lock up

people in a mental ward unless they were a
demonstrable danger to themselves or
others (Hermann). Because those who are
mentally ill are not getting the sufficient
care and aid from the government they are
not able to support themselves and live a
normal life. This all leads to them on the
streets with nowhere to go. With less and
less mental hospitals and the difficulty to get
into them because of money, the number of
homeless people is rising dramatically.
Hurting the Mentally Ill Homeless
"More than 124,000--or one-fifth--of
the 610,000 homeless people across the

With so many mentally ill homeless, what

USA suffer from a severe mental illness,

are we doing to help them? We are doing

according to the U.S. Department of

more to hurt them then to help them.

Housing and Urban Development. They're

Decades of closing psychiatric beds, budget

gripped by schizophrenia, bipolar disorder

cutting and a failure to establish community

or severe depression--all manageable with

supports for the mentally ill have taken their

the right medication and counseling but

toll on society's most vulnerable (Boyle

and Vincent). Not helping the problem is a

revised Mental Health Act that could result

The USA could dramatically

in dangerous mentally ill people refusing

improve the lives of the 10 million

treatment needed. The system relies more

Americans with serious mental illness if it

and more on police to deal with dangerous

would make wider use of proven programs

mentally ill and use jails as mental hospitals.

(Szabo). Studies have shown that supported

This system is seen on our streets, jails,

housing providing services beyond low-cost

hotels, and modern-day asylums.

apartments reduce homelessness and help

Government acts are hurting the

mentally ill just as cutting beds for mental
patients. Every time hospitals are downsized
there are disastrous results. It creates justice
and social problems and a tragedy. If the
government and hospitals stopped cutting
beds for mentally ill patients there would be
less of them on the streets, less of them out
harming themselves and others. By keeping
the same amount of beds or increasing them,
stop budget cuts, and establish community
supports the mentally ill would be protected
and helped and they wouldnt be out
harming others.
Helping Mentally Ill Homeless

them spend less time in shelters, hospitals,

and jail. Proved effective in 20 high-quality
studies are supported employment programs
providing one-on-one help to those with
serious mental illnesses (Szabo).

Hospitals are a great help to stabilize

effective to send the mentally ill committing

patients but they usually only provide a

crimes to a mental hospital where they are

temporary respite, sending patients back into

still locked up but receiving the treatment

the world with no help of where to go next.

needed to make them better. The mentally ill

Programs like the ACT are a better help.

will never get better without treatment and

They help those with serious impairments

help.

who have trouble living on their own and are

often in the hospital, arrested, or been
homeless (Szabo).
Another way to help is providing

So many people are becoming

homeless across America because of mental
illnesses. They are not receiving the help
they need because of there not being enough

treatment rather

room, not enough

than jail time

money; they are being

(Szabo). A lot of

put in jail, or many

those who are

other reasons. Getting

mentally ill

rid of these obstacles

become addicted

will reduce the number

to things they

of those homeless and

shouldnt and commit crimes they dont

mentally ill and they will be better off in this

realize or understand are crimes. Too often

society. They need our help to get their

they are put in jail for these crimes and then

happily ever after.

once placed back on the streets they just

keep repeating the behavior because they are
receiving no help. It would be more

Works Cited

Boyle, Theresa, and Donovan Vincent. "Madness: How We're Failing the Mentally Ill (Part
1)." Toronto Star (Toronto, Canada). Jan. 10 1998: A1+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 23
Feb. 2015.
Hermann, William. "The Mentally Ill Homeless: 'All of Our Problem Now'." Arizona Republic
(Phoenix, AZ). Sept. 4 2005: A1+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.
Jervis, Rick. "Mental Disorders Strand Thousands on the Streets." USA TODAY. 28 Aug. 2014:
A.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.
Mukherjee, Sy. "This Town: What Its Like Being Homeless With A Mental Illness In
Washington DC." ThinkProgress RSS. 28 Aug. 2013. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
Szabo, Liz. "Solutions Exist but Aren't Used Enough to Elevate Mentally Ill." USA TODAY. 26
Dec. 2014: A.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.