And that group is hurt the most by having to share the streets with people whose uncivil and dangerous behaviour puts their life and well being in danger.

Treating unhoused persons as a homogenous population is probably the original sin of modern American homeless policy.

> Treating unhoused persons as a homogenous population is probably the original sin of modern American homeless policy

It gives you some useful tricks, though. E.g. if somebody complains about the chronically homeless addicts assaulting people downtown? Why, you just point out that X% of "the homeless" are actually just regular non-addicted people temporarily down on their luck, who just need a free hotel room for a couple weeks.

It's unfortunate. Most of the conversation here is about addicts and the mentally ill and how hard they are to help. Probably because they are the most visible.

We should have separate programs for each, one with more resources. It is much easier to help someone without a substance abuse problem get back on their feet, so let’s pick the lowest fruit first? It also provides some incentive to not get addicted to drugs, knowing that society is going to not try as hard to save you (this is already true, it just isn’t codified anywhere).

But ya, most people won’t notice, since they didn’t notice these people before.