In the article, "Are the Homeless Crazy," from the book, Rachel and Her Children, which was published in 1988, Jonathan Kozol challenges the widely accepted claim that homelessness is a result of deinstitutionalization that took place in the 1970s. Jonathan states that "those who work among the homeless" believe the principal cause of homelessness is economic, due to the shortage of low income housing, and wages to lease them. They cite decreasing welfare benefits to families with children, and the lack of entry-level jobs to justify their claim. Jonathan further explains that every year low income housing units are being converted to condominiums and office buildings, an effect of the "accelerated gentrification of our major cities," while the families in the remaining units are being charged more rent, forcing many into the streets. He indicates the results of a study published by the Massachusetts Medical Society, that mental illness only accounts for 12% of the illnesses among the homeless, excluding alcohol and drug abuse. He believes that mental illness in the United States bears a "stigma," that society assumes the homeless are mentally ill because it is easier for us to blame the problem on an uncontrollable mental illness then to accept responsibility and try to help, and we do not want to feel guilty for renting or purchasing those newly renovated condominiums. Jonathan argues that mental illness does not make people homeless that being homeless make people mentally ill. He gives an example of a woman protesting the eviction from her home, on a Manhattan traffic island who was ridiculed as a "paranoid in the street," by a reporter, who lacked any psychiatric training, and yet no one offered to help her. Jonathan thinks that we are too hesitant to judge, he points out that some psychiatrists believe that not showing anger, after being evicted, would be a greater illness.
