Question for you: What do you make of the prohibitionist and right-wing claim that Housing First increases drug overdose deaths, presumably because they are more likely to use alone, and the wraparound services are insufficient? They keep making this claim with cherry-picked data points, what is the best rebuttal to their specious claims?
I’m very open minded about homelessness. Living in Southern California and taking care of people who were homeless it appears that a significant percentage have mental illness and long histories of drug abuse. And of course we also have a lack of affordable housing. Section 8 housing in California is difficult to find. Do you have any idea what percentage of homeless people are homeless because they can’t afford to find a place to live vs. those suffer from mental illness/drug abuse?
I'll let Zach say but I imagine there's quite a bit of overlap. Very few people just kind of rationally decide to be vulnerable to cops and cold and hate crimes. There are WAY easier ways to live off the grid.
I’m confused by this from Zach’s substack earlier today.
“ I’ve gone over this ad nauseum, but rates of homelessness are not determined by rates of drug use or mental illness.”
If there’s an overlap between homelessness and mental illness/addiction and I suspect it’s on the high side then how can’t mental illness/addiction be a contributing factor to the rate of homelessness?
Because states with much higher rates of addiction, overdose, and mental illness than California *do not* have higher rates of homelessness. So, yes, there are individual risk factors for homelessness like addiction and mental illness. But those do not explain the population-level phenomenon.
I suspect that if I'd struggled with ADHD/Depression and had no money or shelter because I as abandoned by family(tuff love) drugs & escapism would look very inviting.
Abstinence-only shelters often exclude those on ADHD meds, opioid replacement or pot, driving them to more dangerous street drugs, encampments with associated sweeps(how dehumanizing), jail, forced rehab, relapses & ODs.
As I heard once, "If no one else cares if I live or die, why should I care if I OD".
It all seems so well-planned, except the plan is unspeakable.
Thanks. That makes sense. Just looked up and saw that West Virginia has the highest rate of drug overdosages in country per CDC and a very low rate of homelessness.
Tough question to answer but any idea what percentage of the homeless in California are not from California?
No idea. I hear that all the time that everybody is a transplant and came to California for its lax and libertine policies, nice weather, and drugs. But Idk about all that.
Question for you: What do you make of the prohibitionist and right-wing claim that Housing First increases drug overdose deaths, presumably because they are more likely to use alone, and the wraparound services are insufficient? They keep making this claim with cherry-picked data points, what is the best rebuttal to their specious claims?
I’m very open minded about homelessness. Living in Southern California and taking care of people who were homeless it appears that a significant percentage have mental illness and long histories of drug abuse. And of course we also have a lack of affordable housing. Section 8 housing in California is difficult to find. Do you have any idea what percentage of homeless people are homeless because they can’t afford to find a place to live vs. those suffer from mental illness/drug abuse?
I'll let Zach say but I imagine there's quite a bit of overlap. Very few people just kind of rationally decide to be vulnerable to cops and cold and hate crimes. There are WAY easier ways to live off the grid.
I’m confused by this from Zach’s substack earlier today.
“ I’ve gone over this ad nauseum, but rates of homelessness are not determined by rates of drug use or mental illness.”
If there’s an overlap between homelessness and mental illness/addiction and I suspect it’s on the high side then how can’t mental illness/addiction be a contributing factor to the rate of homelessness?
Because states with much higher rates of addiction, overdose, and mental illness than California *do not* have higher rates of homelessness. So, yes, there are individual risk factors for homelessness like addiction and mental illness. But those do not explain the population-level phenomenon.
I recommend reading this book: https://homelessnesshousingproblem.com/
I suspect that if I'd struggled with ADHD/Depression and had no money or shelter because I as abandoned by family(tuff love) drugs & escapism would look very inviting.
Abstinence-only shelters often exclude those on ADHD meds, opioid replacement or pot, driving them to more dangerous street drugs, encampments with associated sweeps(how dehumanizing), jail, forced rehab, relapses & ODs.
As I heard once, "If no one else cares if I live or die, why should I care if I OD".
It all seems so well-planned, except the plan is unspeakable.
Thanks. That makes sense. Just looked up and saw that West Virginia has the highest rate of drug overdosages in country per CDC and a very low rate of homelessness.
Tough question to answer but any idea what percentage of the homeless in California are not from California?
I don't know about percent, but it's a lot. It's the weather, though right-wingers always manage to blame every single progressive policy
No idea. I hear that all the time that everybody is a transplant and came to California for its lax and libertine policies, nice weather, and drugs. But Idk about all that.