Homelessness During the Reagan Era

The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 was a predisposing factor in setting the stage for homelessness in the United States. Long-term psychiatric patients were released from state hospitals and were supposed to be sent to community mental health centers for treatment and follow-up. The community mental health centers, however, were not adequately supported, and members of this population were often found living in the streets soon after release with no sustainable support system.

Many feel that Ronald Reagan's signing of the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act (1967) greatly exacerbated homelessness among the mentally ill. This law lowered the standards for involuntary commitment in civil courtrooms and was followed by significant de-funding of 1700 hospitals caring for mental patients.

Anti-Vagrancy Laws

Many places where people were once allowed freely to loiter or purposefully be present became areas off-limits to "vagrants." Churches, public libraries, and atria became stricter as the homeless population grew larger. Park benches started to be designed so that no one could lie down on them. Some churches restricted access when mass or services were not being held. Libraries began enforcing "no eyes shut" and sometimes even imposed dress codes. Some public places hired private security guards to carry out these policies, creating social tension. 

All of these strategies together effectively criminalized homelessness in many areas around the country. The homeless population was banished to sidewalks, parks, under bridges, and subway and railroad tunnels. Many homeless people tried to become socially invisible to avoid enforcement of new anti-vagrancy penalties.

1980s Homelessness Crisis

The 1980s saw a continuing trend of de-institutionalizing mental health hospitals, and large numbers of released patients ended up homeless. Many existing shelters and soup kitchens had to expand their facilities to accommodate the larger number of homeless people. By the mid-1980s, there was also a dramatic increase in family homelessness. Tied into this was an increasing number of impoverished and runaway children, teenagers, and young adults, which created a new sub-stratum of the homeless population.

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act

In response to the ensuing homelessness crisis, there was a push from concerned citizens across the country for the federal government to provide assistance. Finally in 1987, President Reagan signed into law the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. The McKinney Act originally had fifteen programs providing a spectrum of services to homeless people, including the Continuum of Care Programs: the Supportive Housing Program, the Shelter Plus Care Program, and the Single Room Occupancy Program, as well as the Emergency Shelter Grant Program. This remains the only piece of federal legislation that allocates funding to the direct service of homeless people.

Poverty Level

During the period from 1980–1988, the percentage of the total population below the poverty level ranged from a low of 13.0% in 1980 and 1988 to a high of 15.2% in 1983. During Reagan's first term, critics pointed to homelessness as a visible problem in America's urban centers. In the closing weeks of his presidency, Reagan told The New York Times that the homeless "make it their own choice for staying out there". Political opponents chided his "Trickle-down economics" policies due to the significant cuts in taxes for the wealthiest Americans; supporters pointed to the drop in poverty after his policies took effect to validate that the tax cuts did indeed trickle down to the poor.

Reagan's Response to the HIV/AIDS Crisis

Perhaps the greatest criticism surrounds Reagan's silence about the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. Although AIDS was first identified in 1981, Reagan did not mention it publicly for several more years, notably during a press conference in 1985 and several speeches in 1987. During the press conference in 1985, Reagan expressed skepticism in allowing children with AIDS to continue in school. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) had previously issued a report stating that "casual person-to-person contact as would occur among schoolchildren appears to pose no risk." During his 1987 speeches, Reagan supported modest educational funding on AIDS, increased AIDS testing for marriage licenses, and mandatory testing for high-risk groups.

Reagan was widely criticized for not supporting more active measures to contain the spread of HIV/AIDS. Until celebrity Elizabeth Taylor spoke out publicly about the monumental amount of people quickly dying from this new disease, most public officials and celebrities were too afraid to deal with this subject. Possibly in deference to the views of the powerful religious right, which saw AIDS as a disease limited to the gay male community and spread by "immoral" behavior, Reagan prevented his Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop, from speaking out about the epidemic. 

When, in 1986, Reagan was highly encouraged by many other public officials to authorize Koop to issue a report on the epidemic, he expected it to be in line with conservative policies; instead, Koop's Surgeon General's Report on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome greatly emphasized the importance of a comprehensive AIDS education strategy, including widespread distribution of condoms, and rejected mandatory testing. This approach brought Koop into conflict with other administration officials, such as Education Secretary William Bennett. Because of the awareness-raising actions of groups such as ACT UP, in 1987, Reagan responded by appointing the Watkins Commission on AIDS, which was succeeded by a permanent advisory council.

Silence = Death: The AIDS Crisis

The pink triangle was originally used in Nazi concentration camps to identify those there for acts of homosexuality. Reclaimed by gay activists in New York as a symbol of resistance and solidarity during the 1970s, it was further transformed as a symbol of governmental inaction in the face of the AIDS epidemic during the 1980s.