Mayor Says 94% of Homeless People Refuse Help Because of Addiction and Mental Illness
A mayor in California said that 94% of homeless people refuse to accept help because of their issues with addiction and mental illness.
Vista Mayor John Franklin made the comments in an interview with KGTV-TV about the worsening homeless crisis in California.
“Some of them we’ve asked twenty times and developed relationships with,” Franklin said. “And we’ve asked them if they would come and accept a safe warm bed here, three hot meals a day, a hot shower, clean clothes, and unfortunately, because of mental illness and addiction, the answer is, ‘We don’t want to come.'”
A point-in-time count of the homeless population found that the city only had about 170 homeless people, but the figure represents almost double the number from last year when it was only 88 people.
The report found similar increases in nearby regions of San Diego County, including 87% in Carlsbad, 69% in Encinitas, 32% in Escondido, and 25% in Oceanside. Three other cities reported a slight decline in the homeless population. (Read more from “Mayor Says 94% of Homeless People Refuse Help Because of Addiction and Mental Illness” HERE)
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