again, whatever is decided about the housing thing they must, first, define 'homeless'. Does that include the insane in the same fix? How about the drug addicts - do they too get included in the same fix? Then there are the just plain bums. They are not mentally ill, they are not drug addicts, they have the capacity to work but don't, etc. Do we just ignore who they are and what they can, and cannot do, behavior, etc. and throw them all into the same housing? There is also the problem with security. We have already tried to do it without security and allowing everybody in. The results were the 'projects' where gangs rule supreme and the law abiding fear for their lives.
Anyway, to beat the proverbial dead horse. We need to better take care of our mentally ill instead of throwing them on the street or putting them in prison (the new institutions for the mentally ill). This remains a problem with no known solution, except for the street or prison. The claim, by the drug companies to be the solution is just plain wrong.
Then there are the drug addicts. This is a problem that has been solved in Europe, for the most part, led by the nation of Portugal. The solution is, basically, that drugs are a health problem. Unless we can understand that and act on it we are going to be forever doomed in this regard.
There is also the security problem. We are going to have to come together and understand that just throwing a bunch of people with problems and no place to put their head into the same place, on their own, and wishing them good luck is REALLY not a solution!
I firmly believe that one of the things that needs to be addressed before any of the rest can be is to stop the insanity of a for profit healthcare system. Hell, we are the only industrialized nation on the earth that fully embraces for-profit-healthcare and our life expectancy is actually dropping. Even though it continues to fail, our duly elected continue to embrace that failure as one of the shining lights of our nation. Apparently, and obviously, we just don't seem to be able to grasp the concepts of reality, facts and self interest.
Given our ongoing 18 year old war with no end in sight I fear we are in deep, deep, sh*t and wish us all luck.