Sociology 498: Homelessness

Jencks: The Homeless

Jencks's argument about mental illness:

"Clinicians who examine the homeless today usually conclude that about a third have 'severe' mental disorders. Since the homeless were often hospitalized in the 1950s..., well over a third of today's homeless might have been locked up at that time. Recreating the mental-health system of the 1950s would therefore cut today's homeless population dramatically."

Christopher Jencks, The Homeless, chapter 3, page 24.