Title: How Many People with Serious Mental Illness Are Homeless? - Treatment Advocacy Center
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Content: Previously hospitalized people were three times more likely to obtain food from the garbage; Studies show that psychotic individuals are much more likely to get assaulted or threatened while homeless; Though officials believe that they are saving money by releasing patients from mental hospitals, there is a significant cost to the patient and to society at large. “ In 2001, a University of Pennsylvania study that examined 5,000 homeless people with mental illnesses in New York City found that they cost taxpayers an average of $40,500 a year for their use of emergency rooms, psychiatric hospitals, shelters and prisons.” Though homelessness is an accepted part of the urban landscape for city dwellers in public spaces, there are many individuals who suffer and go unnoticed. A substantial number of the psychiatrically ill live in the outskirts of cities, under bridges and even tunnels that carry subway trains beneath cities. As states continue to close down psychiatric facilities, there will be an increasing number of individuals with serious mental illness who are homeless. In Seattle in 2013, the mayor called the number of untreated mentally ill people on the street “an emergency.” Unless local and national measures are taken to protect and treat the mentally ill, this trend will likely continue well into the future. For access to more of our backgrounders, which summarize information about severe mental illness, policies and programs related to its treatment, and the consequences of lack of treatment, visit the “ Backgrounders ” page on our website.