> Only if one believes that the lack of a home or a house is the root cause of the individuals problem. Homelessness may not be the root cause, but it effectiv

> Only if one believes that the lack of a home or a house is the root cause of the individuals problem. Homelessness may not be the root cause, but it effectively prevents one from having a normal life. One is unable to help oneself if they spend all of their time, money and effort staying warm, fed and safe. > A drug addict provided with a house as a home will turn that house into a cesspit in very short time. The drug addict does not clean, does not take out the trash, does not repair. The drug addict will invite other drug addicts to the house, essentially turning it into what is called a drug house. The house can no longer be lived in, and it stops being a home. If you do this you get evicted from normal housing. Which is why the supported "housing first" initiative apartment blocks come with rules, social workers, etc. Typically they tolerate substance abuse but have restrictions on number of visitors, visiting hours, etc. > Helping SF drug addicts is a noble cause and should be done - but not by giving them a free house. They need help with their drug addiction first and foremost. Having somewhere to shelter while they get that help is a necessary part of the solution but it is the solution. It's is extremely difficult to try to get out of substance abuse or mental illness issues when living rough. This is exactly why the paradigm of giving housing first exists. Previous attempts at helping the homeless with substance abuse and mental health were fruitless. All the money and effort put into that had very poor results. Give the keys to a normal apartment to an addict and they'll be doing drugs instead of paying rent and back on the streets in a few months. Housing first, addressing problems second was found to be much more effective. This was researched extensively. About 80% of people given supported housing get out of homelessness [0]. That's a massive difference to earlier "shelter only" model of social support for the homeless. [0] https://www.hdl.fi/blog/asunto-ensin-tavoitteena-pysyva-asuminen/ https://www.hdl.fi/blog/asunto-ensin-tavoitteena-pysyva-asum...