In 1980, under Jimmy Carter, the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980 was passed. This bill provided federal grants to local community mental health centers. One year later, the 96th Congress, with a Democratic majority in both houses, repealed the act.

Reagan signed the repeal, which was placed on his desk by Congress, but he was merely following the wishes of the elected representatives of his constituents.

Reagan agreed with the majority of the Democrats that it was better to allow the states to retain control of funding and operations in mental health institutions.

What Reagan did do, as governor of California, was to sign the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act in 1972. That bipartisan legislation made mandatory institutionalization of mental health patients by family members and civil courts illegal. That way a bad judge or vindictive relative couldn’t have you locked up indefinitely at a state hospital.

The result of that humanitarian legislation was that populations in state hospitals dropped, but Reagan didn’t directly oversee, direct or cause any hospital closures.

The majority of mental hospitals in California were actually closed in the late 1990s, when Pete Wilson formed a task force to examine state hospital operations. The task force found that the populations of many state hospitals had dropped dramatically and the per-capita costs had skyrocketed to $114,000 per year.

This led to closures of several facilities, including Camarillo State Hospital.

So while Mr. Kahn may ask residents to stop demonizing homeless people, I would in turn ask him to stop demonizing Ronald Reagan.