> People are comfortable on the streets Ugh, I don't know if you're American or not but this is such an American take. It springs from the idea that homeless p

> People are comfortable on the streets Ugh, I don't know if you're American or not but this is such an American take. It springs from the idea that homeless people prefer the streets to, say, a shelter without examining why that might be true. Shelters are dangerous [1]. They also often come with forced indoctrination and/or highly restrictive curfews and the high risk of your things being stolen. None of these things are a factor if you give people permanent shelter. There might be people who have lived on the streets so long they have serious mental health issues or it's greatly exacerbated existing mental health issues. In either case, isn't it better to remove people from the streets before this happens? Also, this is the minority. Why would we not give permanent housing to the majority who have simply been priced out of the housing market because of a few with mental health issues because or (or worsened by) their homeless situation? > People are severely disabled by mental illness or addiction Again, this can be paraphrased as "we can't give people housing because some of them can't manage housing because of the issues created by not having housing". Just think about that for a second. You don't seem the majority of homeless people. Why? Because they're at the first or second stage of homeless, which is couchsurfing (or other temporary accomodation) or living in their car, respectively. Addiction often comes after becoming homeless. Why? Self-medication in a desperate situation. > So your shelter for one man will end up being a flophouse for a rotating cast of shady types This is NIMBY propaganda. If everyone has shelter, why is there a reason to one house to become a flop house for "shady types"? Basically, this argument boils down to "we can't give anyone shelter because we can't give everyone shelter". It's a deflection tactic. Don't fall for it. The real problem here is that Americans (in particular) view poverty and homelessness as a moral failure and personal failing. It's not. It's the result of the profit motive for a basic human necessity. It can be remarkably cheap to make a substantial difference for homeless people [2]. [1]: https://www.npr.org/2012/12/06/166666265/why-some-homeless-choose-the-streets-over-shelters https://www.npr.org/2012/12/06/166666265/why-some-homeless-c... [2]: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/new-leaf-project-results-1.5752714 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/new-leaf-pro...