The word "homeless" makes it sound as though we are talking about someone who is having difficulty finding accommodation.[1] That is not the case and is very misleading. Prior to about 1980, these people were called "bums," "indigents," "vagrants," and "hobos." Almost invariably, "bums" would have been alcoholics (drugs were too expensive then) and were very likely to be suffering from mental illness. There was a massive push to close mental asylums by progressives in the 1950s with the idea that somehow mental asylums actually make sane people crazy, and to replace them with "community based" institutions. Most of the latter were never built and many of the more severely mentally ill ended up on the streets and in prisons. There was also a move against forcing the mentally ill to take their medication, based on civil rights. Most mad people do not know they are mad and it is very common for schizophrenics, etc., not to want to take their medication. Paranoid schizophrenics and the like are highly likely to take alcohol or drugs to "self-medicate."

So, the majority of the homeless are mentally ill and nearly all of them are addicts. Addicts "disaffiliate," meaning they become exclusively interested in drugs, and will burn all their bridges with friends and family. Someone who is simply having difficulty finding housing will usually sleep on the couch of a relative or friend until he finds something. Addicts and the severely mentally ill make terrible house guests and will often not have that option. Read more of this post