Iains, Jim did not say that the homeless were free from mental illness; exactly the contrary. What he did say was as you quoted, "Presenting homelessness as a psychiatric condition really is as low as it gets."

He echoes Cheryl Harkins, homeless in Portland Maine for 7 years and now an advocate with Homeless Voices for Justice: "Homelessness is not a disease, it's a crime against the disadvantaged." And George Batten, Executive Director of West Virginia's Rescue Ministries, "Homelessness is not a disease. In fact it is not contagious. Homelessness can be based in economics." (This was interesting to me, as Portland is my home town and West Virginia my adopted state.)

Oh, and homeless people as criminals and cannibals: They are much more likely to be the victims of crime and cannibalism than the perpetrators. Rather than protect the homeful from the homeless, it would make more sense to protect the latter from the former.