James Taranto at The Wall Street Journal picked on the liberal "explainer" site Vox.com on Friday under the headline "Two Voxen In One!" In a story on "11 myths about homelessness," German Lopez seemed very contradictory. There was "Myth #4: Homelessness is typically related to mental illness."
Lopez then immediately allowed that "Serious mental illnesses are more prevalent among the homeless: about one in four sheltered homeless people suffered from a severe mental illness in 2010, compared to 5 percent of US adults, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)."
Apparently "more prevalent" is completely opposed to "typical." Also notice one in four suffered "severe" mental illness, which surely isn't the whole of mental illness. A tendency toward depression could challenge "Myth #1: Homeless people are lazy and don't want to work."
Lopez was apparently trying to say "more typical" is homelessness due to the failures of capitalism: "But city officials cited lack of affordable housing, unemployment, and poverty as the top three causes of homelessness in a 2014 survey from the US Conference of Mayors."
Liberals being liberals, they can't admit that a conference of mayors is an awfully interested party in proving the need for federal taxpayer money, or in finding the more politically acceptable causes of homelessness. It's like an asking an oil company to prove oil is good for society.
