I agree on all points. The role money plays is avoiding discussion of the roots of homelessness, which affects the general population as well—social, cultural,

I agree on all points. The role money plays is avoiding discussion of the roots of homelessness, which affects the general population as well—social, cultural, economic, and medical discussions. An easy way to see this is the obsession over the employment rate, despite being very narrow in what it measures (i.e. whether someone who is looking for a job finds one, not the quality of the job they find, nor the number of people who stop looking). Ultimately, I can’t hold people’s apathy towards homelessness against them. Homelessness is often the product of a system that failed them, and the thought of helping directly is incredibly daunting given how much the deck is stacked against people without money, shelter, ids, or skills. Facing an individual who clearly faced a wrong, people tend to help. When faced with a group of people society chewed up and spat out, the comforting things people tell themselves each day reach their limits. What’s another comforting topic on top of it—that people deserve what they get? If we accept the underlying problems affect all of us, maybe we won’t have to do mental gymnastics to see how policy could improve lives. This is potentially an electable approach.