In 2016, Utah’s annual estimate of people experiencing homelessness was 13,460. Since 20 to 25 percent of the homeless population in the United States suffers from some form of severe mental illness that means that (approximately) 2,700 homeless people in Utah are mentally ill.
People with poor mental health are more susceptible to factors that can lead to them becoming homeless. They are more likely to be poor, disaffiliate themselves from their family and friends (and people in general), and most likely feel extremely vulnerable. I believe that these people need extra help. With even a little bit of extra help, their chances of getting off the streets (and survival) would be much higher.
In order to help get these mentally ill people off of the streets, they need to have access to proper resources that provide the services that they need. Housing alone isn’t enough because it is highly unlikely that they’d be able to achieve residential stability. In order for them to reach residential stability, they’d need to have access to continued treatment for their illness(es). If we tackle this problem first, it could potentially get thousands of people off of the streets.
Monique Rebaza, West Valley City
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