The American Psychiatric Association noted that police are also more likely to use excessive force when they interact with unhoused people with mental illness. Even when “well-intentioned law enforcement responders” respond to calls for help, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the situations often escalate due to “the presence of police vehicles and armed officers that generate anxiety.”

Willison’s research found that 22 percent of mayors from over 120 cities station their homelessness staff within police departments. Even among those cities that station homeless outreach teams elsewhere, most still include formal roles for police. Seventy-six percent of homeless outreach teams formally involve the police, per another study she co-published last year.