LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Unemployment and substance abuse play major roles in Los Angeles County's growing homelessness problem, but experts point to mental illness as a factor that often compounds those issues.
The L.A. County Department of Public Health estimates 27% of its homeless population suffers from a serious mental illness.
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"Conditions like schizophrenia... manic depression and depression itself are known as big factors," said psychotherapist John Tsilimparis.
He said that acknowledging that a large number of people on the street are mentally ill is the first step toward helping to solve the homelessness problem.
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"Its easy to blame the victim," Tsilimparis told Eyewitness News. "If you look down on these people and don't recognize it as a legitimate illness and see mental health conditions as something else, maybe a moral failing or weakness of some kind, things don't change."