Yeah, that’s exactly what happens. People make bad choices, and we care because innocents like children suffer.

We have the programs we have now because giving away cash didn’t work. Recipients drank it away and landlords gouged them.

A program like Section 8 for housing balances those issues — the landlord gets paid on time every month, but is on the hook for a minimum standard of maintenance and livability. That’s why we don’t have children in tenements anymore.

Every once in awhile politicians and academics who know everything show up with a magic wand. UBI is no different.

I don't know of any country other than the US which gives food stamps to unemployed people. Elsewhere, they're given cash payments, and the alcohol abuse problem you mention is rare enough that food stamps aren't considered as an alternative. In the UK, there's housing benefit which might be similar to the US's Section 8. As rents/mortgage interest payments vary depending on where you live, it makes sense for this to be paid, directly to the landlord/bank, in addition to unemployment benefit.

The point of UBI is to remove non-private charity support. How will politicians react when people are dying in the streets? The US is not about persons responsiblity.