Commentary: Frustrated by chronic homelessness and severe illness, they found an answer hiding in plain sight

"We have a history of services that have ended up prioritizing less severe people rather than the most severe,"

"I was really sick and tired of watching people go to jail when they weren't getting the help they needed,"

Light rain slicked pavement in San Diego's East Village as homeless people huddled under tents or slept through drizzle. A psychiatrist in San Diego expressed frustration that despite numerous programs and billions of dollars spent, many people with severe mental illness and addiction still lack treatment. Many people in obvious distress appear in parks, on sidewalks and other public spaces. Thousands of severely ill people live with exhausted family members who struggle to obtain help. Services have often prioritized less severe cases over the most severe. A retired deputy city attorney founded a nonprofit after seeing clients cycled through the system and criminalized. California Welfare and Institutions Code 5200 contains a statutory tool that could address chronic severe mental illness and addiction.

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