Letter: System eliminates mental health aid for homeless

Tuesday, March 26, 2002 | 8:28 a.m.

The public's frustration with the intractable homeless plague is understandable, but rage and disgust are not likely to lead to a solution. Maybe complainants like land owner William Smith are right that many of the homeless choose the lifestyle of destitution as a demonstration of "rugged individualism" and libertarian free choice, but many of the wretches have had the "freedom" thrust upon them.

In 1992 Gov. Bob Miller slashed the mental health budget and dumped hundreds of mentally ill wretches onto chance. Politicians knee-jerk to cripple the state mental health system Arthur Anderson-like when the fiscal whim hits them, whatever party they belong to. Neither they nor the public have the savvy to trace the havoc their knife-play creates.

The homeless mentally ill use local government services in police, jails, and hospital emergency rooms, disproportionate both to their own numbers and disproportionate to the number of other homeless persons. Thus, the state shifts the burden to the local governments while keeping state taxes low.

Meanwhile, these local expenditures of the cities and county do nothing to relieve the wretches' clinical ailments that cause their dependency on government services.

JAMES RICHARD LUCAS