This is essentially a problem to be pushed onto accomodating states since there is no political will (no one wants the optics of being the bad guy putting people in mental institutions) to solve this at the national level.

This is how it ends: The US becomes more like Brazil/India and more gated palaces next to miles of slums.

I’ve come to the conclusion that this kind of policy, and others like it are a significant part of why the major cities of the West Coast have such big homeless encampments. Essentially every US state is in a zero sum game with every other state regarding who will actually take some responsibility for the cannot or will not take care of themselves. It’s a nationwide game of musical chairs where conservative leaning states can pretend to “solve” their homelessness problem by shifting the population elsewhere. Just one more embarrassing, infuriating thing about politics in this country.

That’s how has worked in Canada. Prairie provinces literally bought one-way bus tickets to Vancouver, BC, for the homeless and addicted.