President Trump has identified mental illness as one of the root causes of homelessness and promoted forced commitment as a solution in an executive order targeting the issue that he signed last month. But a group of mental health advocates said the approach is lacking humanity.

For years now, a group called Families Advocating for the Seriously Mentally Ill has been urging local government to address the issue of mental illness. FASMI has been at the forefront of mental health advocacy in the East Bay, staging protests in Alameda County over the lack of proper treatment at the Santa Rita Jail, where many people in crisis end up.  

"If you haven't lived with it, you don't understand the complexity of serious mental illness," said FASMI member Margot Dashiell.  

She has a sister who is living on the streets with a mental illness.  So, you'd think she might be happy about President Trump's executive order that includes, "...shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment to restore public order."

"If one looks at it superficially, 'Oh, this is humane.' But if you go into it, you see that it's penalizing and not promoting treatment," said Dashiell.

The founders of FASMI all share the struggle of having a loved one with a serious mental illness, and on Sunday, they gathered at a home in Berkeley to discuss the president's order.  

They've criticized local governments for being hands-off when it comes to treatment, and have even advocated that compulsory treatment may be necessary in some cases. But the simplistic language of the executive order has them concerned. 

In the absence of new mental health hospitals, the advocates are worried that the mentally ill will be treated the same way undocumented immigrants are, sent to makeshift camps without any real treatment.

"That is the fear, that they'll criminalize an illness," said Katie Polony.  "We don't need an administration that is as provenly callous towards the vulnerable as this one to be forcing our kids into places that are not designed to treat them, that are not designed to support them."

The order portrays homelessness and mental illness as a crime and safety issue, and focuses on law enforcement as a solution.  It directs the attorney general to seek ways to pursue the government's policy of "encouraging civil commitment of individuals with mental illness" who are deemed to be dangerous to themselves or others.  

Alison Monroe had an adoptive daughter who died of a fentanyl overdose while living on the streets.

"You know, if they defined her as an offender, they might have put her in jail forever.  And I wouldn't have any say about it or have any way of knowing what's going on," she said.  "So, I would not want this system implemented anywhere near the many places in the Bay Area where my daughter used to hang out."

The history of the government's involvement with mental illness is a dark one.  For much of the early twentieth century, patients were locked away in insane asylums that became known as "snake pits."  That changed starting in the 1960s.

"When the asylums closed, people were supposed to have robust treatment within the community. That didn't happen. People wound up on the streets," said Patricia Fontana. "So, you know, it's like a pendulum that swings from one extreme to the other.  It swung all the way to the side of neglect and now we're afraid he (President Trump) is going to take us back there. Rather than saying, what are the targeted ways that we can improve the system we have now?"

The pendulum is indeed swinging, with a force that is hard to predict. But so far, the simple answers to problems as complicated as homelessness and mental illness aren't giving those with a personal connection much room for hope.

CBS San Francisco has reached out to the White House seeking comment on the concerns.