Part of the issue is that people do not see the same problem, even thought the same phenomena is being observed. Probably the first step is for everyone to agree on what the problem is to begin with. In places like SF, the problem is the system, which creates homelessness. In other conservative cities, the problem is people breaking the law (in other words, personal accountability).

Just like any hypothesis it can be tested, and we can see results. For more than a decade now the system hypothesis has been tested in SF and anyone that can honestly reflect on the problem can see that the hypothesis has failed. The more SF has done to fix the problem, the larger the problem has become. I can even predict this will not be solved and the problem will just keep getting worse. It will not change until the leadership of the city admits they got it wrong and they need to reframe the entire situation.