April 6th, 2009

The city’s homeless population is plagued with various degrees of mental illness and Philadelphia does not have adequate housing to support them. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

An estimated 70 percent of the people living on the streets of Philadelphia have some degree of mental illness, but their care falls to a city system ill-equipped to properly house them.

The life and death of Margaret Jones expose, in particular, the critical lack of specialized residences for poor people with the most severe psychiatric conditions, mental-health advocates say.

“It is outrageous” that deaths are occurring “in part due to an inadequate supply of appropriate housing,” said Debbie Plotnick, director of advocacy for the nonprofit Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania, which provides education and support for people with mental-health issues.

“Until there is the will to change attitudes and national policies . . . more people will prematurely die.”

 Read the full story from the Inquirer here.