There was no bad faith reasoning in my original comment. I, pretty evidently, understand the history of Housing First better than you do and am still convinced policy outcomes in Finland aren't very informative to San Francisco because the societies and challenges are very different.

Us is deeply anti social at the heart. The original reason it got away with it was the American dream aka upward mobility. That is dead for two generations now, and it has developed a corresponding "anti-system" movement the society refused to acknowledge and deal with beyond declaring them "deplorables". The day the leader dies, such movements are up for grabs and can spin on the proverbial ideological dime. Maga will go sendero, but there was just nothing to be done.

I don't really buy this doomerism. The USA passed the biggest COVID safety net, in absolute and relative terms. It's still one of the best countries to get ahead. Most of its problems are not framed through grand narratives about decline. They're more pedestrian issues related to mechanisms like common law, a dysfunctional Senate and two party system, and replacement of state capacity with nonprofits (as this article poorly discusses).