(NewsNation) — Republican Ohio Senator JD Vance was critical of former President Ronald Reagan’s decision to cut mental health services decades ago, saying it has contributed to a present-day homelessness crisis.
During a NewsNation town hall Thursday, Vance said the “homelessness problem in this country, especially in our big cities, is completely out of control.”
“I’m going to criticize President Reagan going back 40 years because President Reagan made a decision to cut mental health care in this country, and the decision that we made collectively as a nation was to let people live on the streets instead of sometimes being committed to inpatient mental health facilities,” he said.
Vance appears to be referring to Reagan, a Republican, repealing the Mental Health Systems Act in 1981, which was signed by his predecessor, Democratic former President Jimmy Carter.
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Under the Mental Health Systems Act, the government would have funded federal community mental health center programs first envisioned under President John F. Kennedy.
Reagan cut Carter’s legislation with the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, which pushed the responsibility of mentally ill patients back to the states, according to KQED. By 2004, the Department of Justice estimated that 10% of state prisoners had symptoms that met the criteria for a psychotic disorder.
Vance said that in the aftermath of Reagan’s decision, taxpayers have had to “pick up the burden” of caring for the mentally ill, many who end up homeless or in local jails instead of health centers.
“I don’t think that it’s compassionate to let the mentally ill fester on the streets. Some of them have addiction problems, some of them have other health problems. I think we need to get back to saying that if you have real mental health problems, you’ve got to go to an inpatient treatment facility, get the care that you need,” Vance said.
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According to the National Alliance on Mental Health, 21% of people experiencing homelessness in the U.S. have a serious mental health condition, and research has found that homelessness is associated with a higher prevalence of mental and substance use disorders when compared to stably housed individuals.
Vance called Reagan’s decision a “mistake.”
“I think all leaders should be able to say we made a mistake. Let’s try something that actually works,” he said.
