Approximately one third of the entire nation’s homeless population is in California, and a substantial amount of these people suffer from a serious mental illness. California policymakers are considering policies that will give relatives, healthcare providers and homeless outreach workers the standing to ask state courts to compel homeless people with severe mental illness to accept treatment. These measures are an effort to treat those who resist care and end up in crisis, as well as a chance to help alleviate the state’s homelessness problem. Read more from the New York Times.