(^342) Predisposing Factors to Homelessness Among the Mentally Ill 1. 2. 3. A Scarcity of Affordable Housing.ents placed on state governments.Deinstitutionalization.from its effects.implicated as a contributing factor to homelessness among persons with mental illness. Deinstitutionalization began out of expressed concern by mental health professionals and oth-ers who described the “deplorable conditions” under which mentally ill individuals were housed. Some individuals be-lieved that institutionalization deprived the mentally ill of their civil rights. Not the least of the motivating factors for deinstitutionalization was the fiminishing slowly, but it is highly visible to those who suffer and discrimination associated with mental illness may be di-stated:Poverty.is incomprehensible or even frightening to many. The stigma have depleted the allotments available for individuals with severe and persistent mental illness living in the community. The job market is prohibitive for individuals whose behavior^ ●affordable housing units and the number of people needing crisis and to homelessness. The gap between the number of assistance programs have contributed to the current housing A lack of affordable housing and the limited scale of housing^ SPECIAL TOPICS IN PSYCHIATRIC Cuts in various government entitlement programs Deinstitutionalization is frequently nancial burden that these cli- The NCH (2008b)
2 2506_Ch20_341-347.indd 0342 506 Ch 20 341 - 347 .ind 4. 5. In addition, the number of single-room-occupancy (SRO) d 0 some people believe that these facilities nurtured isola-the downward spiral to homelessness.ed a means of relatively inexpensive housing, and although hotels has diminished drastically. These SRO hotels provid-lessness are flDomestic Violence.scrape together enough money to pay for day-to-day living, a Lack of A f fordable Health Care. catastrophic illness can create the level of poverty that starts imately half of all women and children experiencing home-tal illness. are becoming mini-institutions for people with serious men-shelters of our cities that there is concern that the shelters their occupants. So many individuals currently frequent the tion, they provided adequate shelter from the elements for 342 1970 and 1995, the gap between the number of low-income rocketed from a nonexistent gap to a shortage of 4.4 million affordable housing units—the largest shortfall on record.them has created a housing crisis for poor people. Between renters and the amount of affordable housing units sky- eeing domestic violence. Battered women are The NCH (2008b) reports that approx-For families barely able to 1 10/1/10 9:37:51 AM 0 / 1 / 10 9 : 37 : 51 AM
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