That's not entirely true. LA had a semi-successful program to build housing that ultimately decreased the cost of _other_ expenses like shelters and jail. The p

That's not entirely true. LA had a semi-successful program to build housing that ultimately decreased the cost of _other_ expenses like shelters and jail. The program ran into problems for exactly the reason you stated, even though it was a net _reduction_ in social service expense for the people in the trial. So basically the equation is (cost of building housing per person) - (charged rent) + (mental health/ other support) <= (prison + hospital + shelter + existing homeless support services) Although that's coming from memory and I can't source it...