Colorado’s state and local elected officials must find new, innovative tools to address our mounting mental health crisis and move people into recovery.
How prevalent are mental health issues for the homeless? According to Colorado Coalition of the Homeless 2022 data, 3,274 out of 10,397 unhoused individuals in the state, or 31% percent, suffer from severe mental illness. That’s an increase of 62% over the previous five years. Research also showed that a whopping 71% of people experiencing homelessness suffer from either a mental illness or PTSD.
The intersection of people suffering from mental illness, experiencing homelessness, and cycling into the criminal justice system represents a specialized set of challenges and a unique opportunity for Colorado to lead the nation in evidence-based practice.
Credit Representatives Judy Amabile (D), Ryan Amragost (R) and Senators Bryon Pelton (R) and Robert Rodriguez (D), who are sponsoring House Bill 1153, which would require the Department of Human Services to hire a third party to determine if establishing a system to support access to behavioral health care and housing support for individuals with serious mental illness is feasible.
The study will address the intersection of this trifecta of issues: homelessness, mental health and criminal justice. The bipartisan approach here demonstrates the significance of the issue and the fact that solving the mental health crisis is not a partisan issue. Rep. Amabile said, “we need to do this right. These are human beings and we have to stop stepping over bodies and do something to help people move into recovery.” Rep. Armagost added that he made this issue a high priority after “seeing how Colorado is dead last for mental health illness treatment.”
Investigating opportunities for supportive and therapeutic housing is an important initiative that could further reduce the number of people sitting in jail and allow them to receive treatment in the community in a safe and healthy environment.
Colorado’s newly created Office of Civil and Forensic Mental Health, led by former prosecutor Leora Joseph, is attempting to tackle the issue of the waitlist — those people waiting in jail who are suffering from serious mental health issues. Approximately 50% of those on the mental health waitlist are people experiencing homelessness.
Colorado is being sued by Disability Law Colorado, and is facing $12 million in fines for the waitlist issue because the state hospitals don’t have the capacity to serve the growing list of patients cycling through the criminal justice system. Money from the fines can be used to help fund supportive housing opportunities throughout the state.
In a remarkable paradigm shift, progressive Democratic mayors and governors across the county are now expanding laws around civil commitments to address the intersection of homelessness and mental health.
After a series of noteworthy cases involving homeless people, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced a plan to use mental health laws to facilitate involuntary treatment when people are unable to care for themselves or when their actions endanger other people. First responders can involuntarily remove people with severe mental illness from the streets and take them to hospitals for psychiatric evaluation. In order to ensure compassionate care, police, emergency medical services, and other medical personnel receive additional training to help them make such evaluations. A team of mental health technicians helps police determine whether a person needs to be taken to a hospital for further evaluation. This specialized intervention team works side by side with NYPD officers.
In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom adopted a similar approach. Last fall, Newsom signed the CARE Act, which passed overwhelmingly, to deliver mental health services to the most severely impaired Californians who too often suffer in homelessness or incarceration without treatment. The law permits families, clinicians, first responders, and other authorized adults to petition a specialized civil CARE court to create a so-called CARE plan for a specific individual experiencing severe mental illness, including schizophrenia and psychotic disorders. In order to qualify, the person must be either unlikely to survive safely without supervision or be a threat to themselves or others without support.
While it is easy for some to criticize these policies as an overreach, walking past a homeless person who clearly needs help and ignoring them is not a humane option and only exacerbates the problem.
Colorado needs more tools in its toolbox. Colorado’s state and local leaders should study the data from these approaches and other innovative policies to determine if they are effective pathways for recovery.
Doug Friednash grew up in Denver and is a partner with the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber and Schreck. He is the former chief of staff for Gov. John Hickenlooper.
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