Trump order on homeless defies data

RESIDENT TRUMP’s campaign against homeless people is not limited to the District of Columbia. OnJuly 24, Trumpissued an executive order titled “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets.” How exactly is that to be accomplished? “Shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment.” The order describes this approach as “new,” “compassionate” and “evidence-based.” It is none of these things.

- FREDRICK E. VARS GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

FRANCINE ORR Los Angeles Times ROBERT ALMOREJO, 52, got an apartment in 2023 after living in an encampment in Gardena.

The institutionalization of people with mental illness has a long and sordid history in this country, In 1970, there were nearly 370,000 people in state and county psychiatric hospitals. Conditions were atrocious. Consider Bryce Hospital in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Bryce housed approximately 5,000 people with only three psychiatrists on staff. Some have said that Bryce at that time resembled aware house more than a hospital. One journalist described it as a “hellhole,” with human feces on the walls and urine soaking the floors. Photos show patients strapped to rocking chairs.

To be sure, treatments are better now than they used to be. That may be why many doctors and others assume that involuntary hospitalization benefits patients beyond stabilizing an acute crisis. But there is little evidence of any such benefits. On the other hand, the “revolving door” phenomenon is well-established. The key is connecting patients at discharge to resources in the community. Until that regularly happens, involuntary hospitalization amounts to just kicking the can down the road.