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Comment by theNJR | Hacker News Reader

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theNJR·

This is not as much a housing issue as it is a mental health and substance abuse issue.

See https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-10-07/homeless...

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That's the way some politicians/media try to spin it, but it's not the whole story.

Many homeless don't have mental health and substance abuse issues, but are just forced out of their homes on debt, etc. And of course some develop mental health (and sometimes substance abuse issues) after living homeless.

I actually think there is a big spin by certain housing developers to promote this as a housing issue.

Not all homeless are homeless because of mental health or substance abuse issues, but those that are homeless for other reasons are more likely to get help so you don’t notice them as much.

Mental health and substance abuse issues don't spontaneously emerge on their own. Lack of money, housing, personal life, etc. are huge contributing causes.

Mental health / substance can cause homelessness. Homelessness can cause mental health / substance. It’s a shit cycle either way, but the one certainty is we are not addressing either in a meaningful way.

Claiming there are no fundamental material/economic problems, such as with housing, and pretending homeless people are just a lost cause of mentally ill substance abusers is certainly not going to solve any problems, except maybe putting your conscience at ease. Housing is not the only problem, but there are fundamental material issues which greatly increase the chance of mental illness and substance abuse.

I agree with that very much. It's hard not to think this is a byproduct of global corporate capitalism and all these other problems stem from that.

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