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Comment by earlINmeyerkeg | Hacker News Reader

Isn't like 90% of the homeless population people with a significant mental illness that they cannot provide for themselves? That's because the normal competent people don't remain homeless long and just need short term temporary assistant. Whereas the large portion of homeless actually are not competent enough to support themselves.

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No [1].

Only 8% of the currently homeless population became homeless because of mental illness. People with mental illnesses are by far the most visible of the homeless, because they are crazy. But they make up a minority of the population.

18% became homeless because of drug, or alcohol abuse. 42% report drug, or alcohol usage, even if that might not be the cause of their homelessness. 39% report psychiatric issues, even if that might not be the cause of their homelessness.

[1] http://hsh.sfgov.org/wp-content/uploads/FINAL-PIT-Report-201...

Thank you for your post. I think there is often a skewed perception of people experiencing homelessness because more often than not they only see the people who have the greatest issues with mental health and addiction.

No, not even close. The nationwide rate of mental illness among homeless people is about one in four, or quadruple the rate of all people. But in the Bay Area where housing pressure is more severe the rate of mental illness among the homeless is actually lower, because there are just more “normal people” among them.

It's about 26%

Source (pg 22, Mental Illness + Alcohol / Drug Use): http://hsh.sfgov.org/wp-content/uploads/FINAL-PIT-Report-201...

It sounds like by "it" you mean the percentage of homeless with a significant mental illness..."that they cannot provide for themselves" (whatever the sentence was meant to mean). But the only 26% on that page is this:

"Over one-quarter (26%) of respondents identified job loss as the primary cause of their homelessness. "

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