Funny, except that if a homeless guy went to a bunch of people's homes and offered to mow the lawn for $50, eventually one of them would call the cops. Second, many homeless folks are *mentally ill* and not really capable of working for a living. And a distressingly large chunk of those are vets. - Michael R. Bernstein

"Second, many homeless folks are *mentally ill*" ~ an assertion at best. Like many Internet users are nerds & geeks? - Peter Renshaw

How does 16% sound? Is that enough to be 'many'? - Michael R. Bernstein

"How does 16% sound? Is that enough to be to be 'many'?" ~ can you cite that assertion? Homelessness and mental illness might have some correlation but it doesn't necessarily follow that homelessness is the result of mental illness. Implying this is such a bogus argument and needs correcting ~ http://xkcd.com/386/ - Peter Renshaw

http://www.psychlaws.org/general... - Andrew C

When Reagan gutted all the mental health care programs both as governor of California, and as president, where do you think all the institutionalized people ended up going? The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration actually estimates up to 20-25% of homeless people are mentally ill. http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/cmhs... - Victor Ganata

Victor +1 for saying what we all know about Reagan. Although the right loves to hold him up as a saint and a hero, he is responsible for more inhuman treatment of the weakest in our country than any other national leader. Ever. - Karoli

Here's some verifiable numbers. Upperbound homeless 3.5million [1] and 4.5 million individuals classified with severe mental illness [2]. Homeless: 3,500,000 or 525,000 (15%: mentally ill on streets) Mentally Ill: 4,500,000 or 675000 (15%: total mentally ill) So if 15% of homeless are mentally ill is at the maximum of 525K people. Of the total mentally ill in the US if we take 15% gives 675K people. Reference: [1] PBS.org, "Homeless Facts and Figures: lowerbound 750 thousand", 2/2/07 http://www.pbs.org/now... [2] psychlaws.org, FAQ, "Severe mental illnesses: How many people in the United States have severe mental illnesses? which discounts minor illness" http://www.psychlaws.org/PressRo... - Peter Renshaw

Google trends picks up homelessness but not mental illness meaning it is underreported? ~ http://www.google.com/trends... Good reference @AndrewC the 200,000/744,000 (lower bound figure of homeless from National Alliance to End Homelessness) verified from ~ http://www.pbs.org/now... and http://www.endhomelessness.org/content... / Stunning figure of 40% of War veterans homeless ~ http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factshe... - Peter Renshaw

Here's a good source of stats: http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factshe... - Michael R. Bernstein

Here's the factsheet on mental illness and homelessness: http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factshe... - Michael R. Bernstein

So Peter, having gone though this rigmarole of chasing down a few easily verifiable facts, will you concede that my original comment was justified? - Michael R. Bernstein

And BTW, I didn't imply that homelessness was a *result* of mental illness (though the correlation is pretty strong), I was merely pointing out that the 'Republican solution' of telling homeless people to get a job mowing lawns was inadequate. - Michael R. Bernstein

...and now the text at the original link is gone. Phooey. - Michael R. Bernstein

Here's another source of the anecdote: http://www.theresmytwocents.com/2009... - Michael R. Bernstein