This isn’t me kidding around. Without real consequences nothing will ever change and no one will look for work. Stop saving them.

The next generation of desperates would be better off without subsidy.

First thing I would do is stop printing excessive amounts of money. Housing crises are largely caused by expansion of the money supply more than supply and demand. People bid up prices of scarce assets when the monetary supply expands.

Obviously there is much more to homelessness than just the cost of housing but it's a good start.

One man can't solve it. Its a deep problem and I don't pretend to know how it can be solved or if it can be 100% solved.

This is not an order of importance or anything just stream of thought.

At least in some places in the US like California the state run mental hospitals were closed or the laws reformed that essentially resulted in many people that would be in an institution being on the street. I'm not a fan of the state and I don't have an answer but this part of the problem gets ignored very often.

Private institutions supported by communities and faith orgs have been doing good work here helping people that want help but what do you do with those that refuse help? I don't have an answer. I think you let them be until they commit a crime and then that must be handled.

In many places were you see massive homeless populations there is a short supply of housing. And in many a short supply also means very expensive housing. Local and state governments artificially manipulate the market by forcing home builders to build housing of a certain size and style which increases costs and affects the free market in many complex ways. I believe this leads to higher prices and lower supply making it harder for people to find housing. Much of the problem I see is that local governments over zoning do not want low income friendly housing so they regulate building. So this is not a government problem as much as a cultural problem enabled through government. People are able to take cover under the government and claim they care about the poor while their "representative" represent the wealthy.

It is insane that so many businesses require licensing and tons of red tape. Reforming these rules would make it easier for people to earn a living. We don't need the state in these transactions. We have tools where we can rate businesses and they can build respect and reputation outside of the government. Private governance. Non-centralized governance. The people voting directly with their money and voices.

Drug abuse is very common in the homeless population. Great work is being done my non-profits and churches but it isn't enough. I would say end the drug war and focus on getting people free from the prison of addiction.

I've heard it many times from people that work with homeless populations. The single biggest factor for most homeless people is they lost their community. They lost their support system. That might be friends and/or family. Many times this goes back to drug addiction but humans need community. This is why they group together in encampments.

The private sector programs that I have seen being successful focus on building community. Sometimes this means tiny houses and hiring people to work in businesses. Having game nights where people can feel human again.

The answer isn't handing people money. It takes people that care and give of their time, talent, and treasure. Government will never solve this problem. Money alone can't solve it either.

The devaluation of the dollar is a massive issue. The inflation of the money supply has dramatically affected these people. The impact is crazy. The whole melting ice cube of fiat increases the spread between the haves and have nots. Its not "capitalism" per say. Its fiat money. If you wanna call that capitalism OK. Lets agree that the problem isn't the free market.

I'm a Christian and it is impossible to follow the way of Jesus and have no care for the poor. For the widow and the orphan. In the US the many Christian organizations do a lot to help those in need. Its not enough and I think that is a shame. I believe the church can and should do better. I should do better. This is why I'm writing this. For far to long the church has stood back and let the state take the lead in this work. That's one reason it is so bad. Churches are plugged into their communities in ways a state/gov worker will never be. They can be the hands and feet of Jesus. Loving and helping those in need. I'm very grateful that our little town has several churches that feed and help people in need. There are many opportunities to serve and I enjoy it every time I do it. As the US become more and more secular we lose something precious. A faith that bonds us together as a people.

This problem is complex and growing. The bottom line is the state is not incentivized to fix it. But, even if they were I don't think bureaucracies can fix it. From what I've seen most people just don't wanna talk about it or even think about it.

Some think, that's what my tax money is for. Well, its being wasted and in many cases doing harm. Others just don't care. They see these people as disposable. They see them as criminals. They see them as losers. Others like to think that they care and say they care but then support policies that make the problem worse.

I think everyone should do this at least one time.

Find a local shelter or org that tries to help people that are homeless. Volunteer in some way. It is best if you interact and get to talk to people. You will find some of these people might remind you of yourself. And you might realize that if things went a different way in your life you might be in their shoes.

We are responsible for our choices but we have all made mistakes. Most of us are very fortunate that we are able to recover from those mistakes. Many of us have family, friends, and communities that have our backs.

"Solve homelessness" doesn't mean no more homelessness and it's not a particular problem.

Homelessness is a consequence of many poor economic and social policies. I'll stick to a few of the economic ones.

Minimum wage: Often confused for a floor under wages, minimum wages are really a prohibition on pow productivity work. People who could justify modest wages of $6 or $7 an hour, and then potentially work their way up, are instead priced entirely out of the labor force. Also, city officials don't kick you off the street corner for earning less than minimum wage.

Occupational licensing: Almost every state has a bunch of ridiculously protected professions, that could otherwise be entry points into the labor force. Similar to minimum wage, if you make it harder to earn a living, fewer people will do so.

Building codes: It is illegal in many (probably most) places to build cheap housing, because bleeding heart do-gooders think all housing needs to be nice and full of amenities. Similar to minimum wages, making something harder to obtain reduces how many people are able to obtain it. Many people would pay to live in a simple apartment, that's little more than a bedroom, but it's illegal to build units that don't have kitchens and bathrooms, etc.

Public property: Ok, so in addition to making it harder to afford housing on several dimensions, cities also provide copious amounts of freely available space for anyone to use and still be close to all the city amenities.

We're essentially taxing a good (affordable housing) and subsidizing it's substitute (urban homelessness), so of course we have more than the socially optimal amount of urban homelessness.

This is why homelessness is highest in the cities with the worst economic policies.

It is not the housing crisis issue, it's the people's issue... You want to solve that? Bless your heart brother, let me know how it works out :-)

Bitcoin solves most social-economic problems but not the mental illness part of homelessness.

That still requires human action to care for other human beings.

that is a very intriguing question, basically to start off, educating people for free and therefore teach them about certain skills therefore they may find some ways to provide their services to other people even for food and shelter in exchange.

Restrict the fiat finance of housing by for profit banks. Since neoliberal deregulation of the 1980s allowed for profit banks to fund housing housing prices have increased significantly. Only allow mutuals/non profit funders to finance housing. Problem solved. The free market does not work where fiat money is inherently not a free market- for profit bankers will pour vast sums into housing inflating the market in a self reinforcing cycle of rentseeking speculative debt based greed- and this is exactly what has happened since the 1980s neoliberal deregulation allowed them to.

The problem is they have to want it 80% of homelessness in my area could be nationally im not sure are precious foster homes...since working in one u see alot have no hope or drive..makes sense what it matures into some end up with great future lives others choose to do it their way on their own. In reality none of us can do it alone. Get God

A post on homelessness came up recently on Stacker.news - The Homelessness Crisis

One comment I made (#435427) is that the charities, as they exist now as a part of the "homeless industrial complex" are PART OF THE PROBLEM.

I just don't believe that more charity will help, unless it's an entirely different kind of charity.

I've watched so much soft white underbelly interviews with skidrow homeless people, hookers and drug addicts that I'm fairly convinced there is no cure, because it's largely people that have been broken by abuse and violence that were never given the tools (mental or otherwise) to make good decisions.

For the working poor or people who are forced to live in cars because rent is too high, that's a hard one, because people use real estate as an inflation hedge / store of value. This would be a fix the money issue, but none of the legacy players or governments would want a true monetary fix because it takes away too much of their power and control

I'd just build public homes and allow nature to decide who fits into the society or not

Housing first