“Many of those who are labeled “homeless” today are mentally ill would would have been institutionalized with 3 hots and cot before the ACLU forced states to put them on the streets. Now we have to endure dangerous mental cases on the streets until they commit a crime that merits incarceration...often murder. It’s a damn poor approach.”
Could have been worse. The original plan was to establish half-way houses in all residential neighborhoods to house the mentally ill in group homes. I know the effects of the ‘homeless’ on urban areas has been severe, but wouldn’t it be nice to have a ‘group-home’ housing 10 or 12 of these next door?
Half-way houses are just operating bases for criminals on their way out of fully supervised incarceration. Petty thieves, druggies, sexual perverts and worse. The "plan" may not have been fully executed, but it exists in many communities anyway.