Stefan Molyneux (@stefanmolyneux)

Closing the mental hospitals was a mistake. Since the 1950s, America has lost over 90% of its psychiatric care capacity. During what came to be known as "de-institutionalization," mental patients were discharged from hospitals not because they were getting better, but because of misguided and ideologically-motivated government policies. The result has been devastating. Before de-institutionalization, homelessness as we know it today *did not exist*. In the 1950's, very few homeless people were mentally ill, and most of them were even functional enough to pay for their own motel-style lodging out of their pensions or day-laborer wages. Since then, the rate of homelessness has risen by an order of magnitude, and it has become defined by extreme mental illness, drug addiction, violence, and public health crises. None of this had to happen, and it doesn't have to continue. We know how to eliminate homelessness—by reversing the policies that caused it. Learn more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stXdVJs7cfk