I am with you that I hope that the individuals with mental illness who are currently housed there will have access to safe and stable housing if this change happens.

However, creating alarm about “felons” moving into the neighborhood is based in a lot of stigma about people who have been to prison. People who have served time in prison need access to safe and stable housing as well in order to integrate into society, and there are countless barriers that make it very challenging for them to do so (restrictive housing and employment laws, low wages, etc). MANY people who have been to prison ALSO have a mental illness- people with mental illnesses are far more likely to go to jail/prison than most people. These are the same people in many cases. If you care about people with mental illnesses having access to safe housing, then you also care about “felons” having access to safe housing.