I honestly and sincerely believe that most people simply don't know how to fix this and that is an underlying cause of the "lack of political will." It's why I research answers and have for a long time and write about it. I sincerely believe that if I can pinpoint the pain points and viable solutions, there will be people who will act on it and if they succeed, others will be happy to copy them.

Once someone is homeless for a while, it's hard to help them because they develop mental health and substance abuse issues if they didn't already.

I fully agree that being homeless is traumatic enough that it creates mental health issues. I feel like I have some kind of financial and social PTSD from nearly 6 years on the street.

But I think the perception that homeless people are all junkies is likely rooted in prejudice. It takes money to get high all the time. Serious drug users I've personally known had jobs, sometimes quite well-paid jobs.

You don't snort tons of cocaine by panhandling. I mostly saw evidence of alcohol and marijuana use by other homeless people. Granted, there are some hard core addicts who are homeless and that gets a lot of press, but the "face of the homeless" tends to be the most visibly homeless and problematic. The reality is there are homeless people with jobs, going to college, etc and doing all they can to not be discovered for fear of being fired, etc.

The statisitics back this up, as well. The top causes of homelessness for individuals and families are economic[1].

[1] https://nlchp.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Homeless_Stats_...

I once tried to volunteer with a local non-profit for homeless people. It was clear that the city was actively thwarting their efforts.

There are myriad issues that put one at risk of ending up homeless, such as disability, health issues and various other barriers to regular employment. Helping people with those issues, regardless of housing status or financial status, is a better way to reduce the incidence of homelessness overall.

Of course, the current NYC capacity isn't enough for the number of homeless in NYC, but it's proof that housing and support for thousands of homeless people is possible by a city.

Homelessness is a symptom of deep issues in the US. We have broken housing policy. We have bad healthcare policy. We have saddled a lot of people with student loans under conditions where the loans are a huge burden and the education they got wasn't the slam dunk solution to making life work that we convinced them it would be.

Homelessness means "The lives of these people simply don't work for some reason." Lack of housing is one element of that, but it's not the entire issue.

We need to design an America where the lives of most ordinary people work again. Where you don't need a college degree or can get one without it being an undo burden. One where if you are willing to work and aren't a criminal etc, then it's possible to make your life work.

There's no single thing that will get us there, though fixing our broken housing policy such that affordable housing can exist again would be an important step forward.

I know one issue a lot of homeless who are working to get back up on their feet face is even having a stable address to receive mail or include when applying to jobs etc.

I'm with you that there are many other issues and that homelessness is one symptom of a problem, but providing some stability through housing and food seems like a productive, and achievable first step for a city government to accomplish.

The problem is how it's done.

I've eaten in soup kitchens. It tends to be lousy food and I was homeless because I have a serious medical condition and I eating healthy is critical to my ability to function at all.

A lot of homeless people have serious health issues and the attitude is "Beggars can't be choosers. Eat the free stuff that's been put in front of you." when sometimes that free stuff is actively harming their health and if you count the medical cost for requiring more medication and the opportunity cost in lost wages because they remain too sick to work, that "free meal" is an expensive as hell choice to make.

The longer I was on the street, the more I avoided things like soup kitchens, which not only tend to provide lousy food, they expose you to other people who are sick, coughing, haven't bathed recently, and are smoking either cigarettes or marijuana. I have a respiratory condition and am, additionally, allergic to marijuana. Soup kitchens were a nightmare.

What I think we ought to do is expand the food stamp program and lower the barriers to getting food stamps. Food stamps are put on a card, much like a debit card, and you spend it as you see fit and it gives you access to normal middle class food sources, like grocery stores.

Food is absolutely an essential and good quality food programs help protect the health of the people and mitigate the impacts of poverty, but many things aimed at "helping the homeless" are amazingly bad to the point of being mostly counterproductive in my first-hand experience as someone who was homeless for nearly 6 years. And when you are homeless, no one wants to hear your criticisms of this terrible program and how it doesn't actually meet your need. They expect you to be grateful while putting a gun to your head and saying "If you aren't eating at the awful soup kitchen, it's your own damn fault you can't solve your problems."

We really don't do a good job of helping America's poor access opportunity. This is no longer the land of opportunity and that's the crux of the problem.

If you can't already afford a new car and a big house, your life is likely slipping into the toilet rather than climbing towards a better future and it's incredibly hard to fight against the many trends pushing you down as just an individual being crushed under the boot of myriad larger forces.

I would like to see more mail services for the homeless generally, but the shelter system seems to be as bad as soup kitchens or worse and I never once spent the night in a homeless shelter.

https://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/our-programs/advocac...