The (mentally ill) person does something which they intend as a benefit and people react. The (mentally ill) person feels attacked, often where no attack was intended.
This is the problem that needs to be addressed, as has been stated.
The reason (mentally ill) people don't have jobs is because they can't keep them, due to their illness, not that they can't find them.
I'm not trying to attack anyone in this thread by using the term mentally ill.
I suffer from something that has been variously diagnosed as aspergers/bipolar/borderline/crazy/mentally ill and I understand this pattern completely.
I was homeless for 3 months when I lost my job because of problems interacting with other employees. I seem to be too sensitive or maybe I'm imagining slights. Whatever the cause, the result is I have serious problems maintaining any relationships with anyone, even my family members.
I can be highly functioning for months at a time and I did have a 10 year relationship with someone, so I'm not beyond help and I'm not an awful person (though I feel like one despite my best efforts at positive affirmations!) but something seems to build inside me until it erupts in a stream of negativity that most people would rather not have to deal with, and so they don't.
My parents were both alcoholics, so I'm sure that is part of it, but being a slave 8 hours a day is very difficult for me, and always has been.
I'm 54 years old and on the verge of homelessness again after working IBM and Intel, among other industry giants.
There is no safety net in the US for unmarried males without dependents. It is assumed we are immune to struggles and should be able to lift ourselves up by our bootstraps.
I applaud the efforts of people like AustenAllred who are attempting to find market solutions to problems like homelessness. Bravo!