At some point while homeless, I talked to someone who traveled. They observed that in some South American country they visited, homelessness did not exist because slums were tolerated. So, people had housing, even though a lot of it was substandard by US standards.

American zoning, minimum house sizes, do contribute to the problem. We have created a situation where the Haves live in ever larger houses and can afford two or more places and the Have Nots are increasingly out on the street.

I don't know the answer here. I think certain minimum standards for housing matter. But, we should definitely tweak something. Setting the bar for minimum housing standards so high that large numbers of people can't attain housing at all is messed up.

* anywhere.