There's growing evidence that simply giving people resources without preconditions will cost less than our current approach as well as be more effective [1].
I think that the line between the "homeless" and the working poor is pretty deceptive. Many people exist on one side of the line who have the capacity to cross it. Reforms that make it easier to live as someone at the bottom of the ladder (increased minimum wage, rent support like the mortgage tax breaks, health care subsidies, transportation systems that don't rely on owning a car) would also likely make staying homeless less interesting to many people.
Also, at the end of the day, some people will likely always chose to be unhoused. I suspect that what most members of the public find distasteful is not the isolated fact that some people don't have permanent addresses, but their discomfort with the signs of vagrancy (poor hygiene, worn clothes, poorly controlled atypical behavior). Again, providing services will address most of those things and make life much more tolerable for those who can't, for the moment, find the capacity in themselves to be "normal."
It's unlikely we have ever (or will ever) live in a society where everyone is comfortable living like "average" people do. Right now, people who find themselves unable to do that are often punished and looked down on. Even if someone thinks homelessness is a condition of moral failure, I hope they can agree with the problematic nature of a system that punishes people in ways that feed that condition.
There's growing evidence that simply giving people resources without preconditions will cost less than our current approach as well as be more effective [1].
I think that the line between the "homeless" and the working poor is pretty deceptive. Many people exist on one side of the line who have the capacity to cross it. Reforms that make it easier to live as someone at the bottom of the ladder (increased minimum wage, rent support like the mortgage tax breaks, health care subsidies, transportation systems that don't rely on owning a car) would also likely make staying homeless less interesting to many people.
Also, at the end of the day, some people will likely always chose to be unhoused. I suspect that what most members of the public find distasteful is not the isolated fact that some people don't have permanent addresses, but their discomfort with the signs of vagrancy (poor hygiene, worn clothes, poorly controlled atypical behavior). Again, providing services will address most of those things and make life much more tolerable for those who can't, for the moment, find the capacity in themselves to be "normal."
It's unlikely we have ever (or will ever) live in a society where everyone is comfortable living like "average" people do. Right now, people who find themselves unable to do that are often punished and looked down on. Even if someone thinks homelessness is a condition of moral failure, I hope they can agree with the problematic nature of a system that punishes people in ways that feed that condition.
[1] https://www.vox.com/2014/5/30/5764096/homeless-shelter-housi...