> Andre is evidence that simply giving people what they need is not enough to stop criminal behavior. But who is to know what Andre's life would have been like

> Andre is evidence that simply giving people what they need is not enough to stop criminal behavior. But who is to know what Andre's life would have been like if he had been given what he needed when he was 14? You can't expect someone to spend some of their most formative years on the street and then bounce back just because they suddenly have a roof over their head. Providing housing certainly is not always sufficient to solve everyone's problems. Plenty of people who've never been homeless commit crimes, develop drug habbits and find other ways to destroy their lives. Housing is however, necessary, if you want to have any luck helping people. Fixing economic, psychological, substance, or emotional problems becomes many times harder. When people are desperate and are treated liked outcasts regularly, deterring criminal behavior also becomes several times harder. So yes, housing does not fix everything. It is however a necessary first step in any plan to deal with the homelessness and its comorbidities. Any approach that doesn't start with housing is doomed to fail.