At the first meeting of the City’s ad hoc committee on homelessness, the discussion touched on the overlap between homelessness, substance abuse and mental health. It also raised two related questions: how to address the problem of shelter-resistant homeless individuals, and whether compelled treatment is sometimes necessary.
Scott Kennelly, the director of Butte County Behavioral Health, said homeless outreach teams have worked to convince unhoused people to take advantage of services and have tried to connect them with services, but there are always people who say, “Leave me the hell alone.”
In his view, homeless people who refuse to go to shelters can generally be divided into three groups: those severely addicted to drugs like Fentanyl and Xylazine who are solely focused on their next hit and refuse any care; those with severe mental illness who are psychotic and unaware of their condition; and those who prefer a rule-free lifestyle.