Mental Disorders among Homeless People in Western Countries

Much has been written in the scientific literature and the popular press about mental disorders among homeless people, and about its converse—homelessness among people living with mental disorders. Yet despite community concern about homelessness and mental illness, we have limited understanding in many places of the genesis of the problem, and limited evaluation of useful ways to tackle it [1–4]. There is little discussion of national surveillance of homelessness and mental illness and a lack of reliable estimates of its extent.