Compliments to San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan for his inciteful, humane and more affordable program for meeting the homeless challenge — a great first step.
But the Santa Clara County Health Department estimates that 15% to 20% of the homeless population does not have the capacity to live alone and will not stay in unsupervised housing due to addiction or other mental health issues. As a result, they become emotionally unstable and revert to the streets — and are considered “a danger to themselves and others.”
This behavior was treated differently until the early 1970s. Back then folks were detained permanently in long-term mental health state-operated facilities. In our region that was Agnews State Hospital East along the Guadalupe River in a securely fenced, pastoral setting in North San Jose…