Roy on Court-Ordered Psychiatric Care for the Unhoused
Professor of Urban Planning and Social Welfare Ananya Roy spoke to the Guardian about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed Care Court program, which would force some unhoused people with severe mental illness and addiction disorders into psychiatric treatment. The plan aims to address the growing issue of homelessness in Los Angeles by requiring people with serious mental health issues to accept treatment and also mandating that counties provide services. However, the proposal has received backlash from disability rights and civil liberties advocates. Roy, who serves as director of the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy, said the court proposal is part of a trend in California of criminalizing the unhoused. “There is seemingly a lot of compassion for the unhoused, but that is coupled with a deliberate and enforced state of stripping the unhoused of rights in the name of saving them and doing good,” Roy said.
