Title: Opinion: Homelessness Is Spilling into San Diego’s Residential Neighborhoods - Times of San Diego
Headings: Opinion: Homelessness Is Spilling into San Diego’s Residential Neighborhoods
Opinion: Homelessness Is Spilling into San Diego’s Residential Neighborhoods
By Mark Powell
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Content: Mentally ill homeless should be given the same care we give to people who have other types of health issues, such as diabetes, heart disease or cancer. Government should do all that it can to help the homeless receive the care they need, and if the homeless individual refuses treatment or services and ends up breaking the law, they will need to face the legal consequences, which include arrest and incarceration. Municipalities and local governments need a more assertive and proactive approach to manage homelessness. Quite a few of our elected officials spend a great deal of time and money on attempting to solve the homeless crisis through building homes or apartments, but what we really need to build are inpatient residential treatment centers like the Alpha Project that are specially designed to help the homeless with drug and alcohol abuse. San Diego also needs more psychiatric hospitals to help homeless individuals with mental health issues. Most homeless individuals with mental health issues in San Diego end up at Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital, the largest privately operated psychiatric hospital in city. We could use more hospitals like Mesa Vista. San Diego will spend millions of dollars building housing and shelters for the homeless, and although these efforts may be done in good faith, they do not address the problem: substance abuse and mental illness. The high cost of health care might account for the trend of releasing mentally ill homeless patients back onto the streets as quickly as possible to free up hospital beds.