Serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia, severe bipolar disorder, and severe addiction share a common challenge: a lack of awareness that one is unwell.
The disease takes away the ability to see what it's doing.
So patients repeatedly fail to adhere to treatment, and in the most severe cases, spiral into homelessness, involuntary hospitalization, incarceration, and early death.
As many as 2 out of every 3 people experiencing homelessness have a mental illness, a substance use disorder, or both.
In 2024, more than 274,000 Americans were living unsheltered. About 67% had a mental health disorder. More than 40% had a substance use disorder.
America didn't get here overnight: in the 1970s and 80s, psychiatric hospitals closed, low-cost single-room housing was demolished, and vagrancy and public drunkenness were decriminalized, all at once.
The people who needed care the most ended up on the street.
Our report:
ciceroinstitute.org/research…