Fundraising efforts by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and about 80 local churches to provide housing for 600 homeless families were successful this weekend; more than $225,000 was raised for the cause. Sacramento State on Monday will also be holding a canned food drive.I won’t negate the wonderful work and selflessness of Sacramento’s citizens, but I feel the issue of mental illness in the homeless community has not been sufficiently addressed.Californians have a history of doing what they can for the homeless, including passing Proposition 63 back in 2004, which taxes those making more than $1 million per year an additional 1 percent for providing services to the mentally ill.In 1999, the state passed Assembly Bill 2034, which provided $10 million for pilot mental health programs that serve homeless individuals in Stanislaus, Los Angeles, and Sacramento counties. According to a follow-up report to the bill from the California Department of Mental Health, incarceration of the homeless during a 15-month period dropped a whopping 77 percent.The county has cut $48 million from its mental health budget. The mental health crisis unit on Stockton Boulevard was closed last year and only 50 out of 100 inpatient beds are available in the rest of the hospital.The repercussions of ignoring this crisis are calculable and eye-opening. The homeless population in this country is around 3.5 million, according to the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. Mental illness affects about 31 percent of those people who are unable to hold a job or home because of their symptoms.Many people do not qualify for county-assisted mental health services because their condition is not considered severe, said Kathryn Kleinman, director of Genesis, a mental health program which offers free counseling to homeless and low-income individuals.”Part of the problem is … you have to have a certain diagnosis to get treatment,” Kleinman said. “It’s really hard to go through the system if you’re mentally ill because there’s so many different rules for so many programs.”A report last year from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states one-fifth of emergency room visits across the country in 2006 were made by the uninsured.Taxpayers then have to pick up the tab for all the homeless people coming into hospitals for mental health treatment. The report showed homeless people not receiving care until their needs reach meet crisis levels have more expensive hospitalizations, lasting longer than if patients had been receiving regular care.”The issue’s getting worse yet we’re cutting down our resources,” said Sister Libby Fernandez of Loaves and Fishes. “What we’re seeing is an increase with people with mental illnesses going straight to the ERs and hospitals.”A shortage of doctors, counselors and social workers means mentally ill people needing therapy and medication will have to go without, and the problem will continue spiraling out of control without qualified individuals available to help.”(Schizophrenics), they’re not going to be able to spend the time and do the research to get treatment,” Kleinman said. “Getting in these days is almost impossible because so many of the programs have let psychiatrists go.”Even if you don’t have money to give, Fernandez and Kleinman said people can help out by donating bottled water, walking shoes and travel toiletries to local shelters.Homelessness is a multifaceted issue that is not going to disappear anytime soon. But the state falling on hard times is no excuse for ignoring a very real problem that will be more consequential to us in the future.Julia Baum can be reached at [email protected]