the emphasis on mental health services above things like reliable access to food and housing as a means to curve chronic homelessness is an attempt to sidestep the core issue by hoping that people facing the constant violence of being unhoused can simply bootstrap their way into better circumstances (or at least being less evidently homeless in public), but what's especially jokerfying is when you see exactly how even people who do it "right" are being set up to fail. housed people who work shitty minimum wage jobs get depressed. housed people spend their off time doing recreational drugs as a way to unwind after a long day. housed people who work full time can still barely make rent. what lies at the end of getting clean is a pressure cooker of forces cornering people back into poverty, mental illness and addiction. it's affirming in a way to know that no matter how many institutions wax about compassion and concern, "gaslight yourself into thinking everything is fine" is still the advice that everyone gets from the top down.













