The answer is simple - benefits systems. They're almost universally designed to avoid providing help to anybody, and any help they do provide is usually tied to

The answer is simple - benefits systems. They're almost universally designed to avoid providing help to anybody, and any help they do provide is usually tied to requirements of the person receiving them. There is no system for giving houses to the homeless without forcing them to get off drugs/alcohol, seek employment, etc etc, which many of these people are unable to do (and yet don't qualify for disability benefits because somebody in an office with a mandate to deny a certain amount of people benefits has decided they're fit for work). They also often have extreme difficulty cooperating with social programs, where they still exist (again, they've been receiving heavy cuts over time). So from society's perspective, we've done all we can to help - providing people with a roof over their head in return for nothing is something so far from any system we currently have that it's unthinkable.