Work-fare programs have been attempted to varying degrees in the U.S. (not just for homeless). The trouble is things that work for city-states like Singapore,

Work-fare programs have been attempted to varying degrees in the U.S. (not just for homeless). The trouble is things that work for city-states like Singapore, don't scale to U.S. size. This can be said for many things Singapore does. Its quite possible these type of social services simply do not scale well and it would be best if local governments "owned" these problems as they do sewage, water, fire department, etc... But in a multi-tier government: local, state, federal, you can most always kick the problem up a level.