> relative to the rest of the industrial world the US has far more people at the "bottom" Is that really true? http://www.homelessworldcup.org/content/homeles

> relative to the rest of the industrial world the US has far more people at the "bottom" Is that really true? http://www.homelessworldcup.org/content/homelessness-statistics http://www.homelessworldcup.org/content/homelessness-statist... puts Europe, US and UK at very roughly 3-5 homeless per 1000. But in any case, my point is about the chronic homeless and http://mentalillnesspolicy.org/consequences/homeless-mentally-ill.html http://mentalillnesspolicy.org/consequences/homeless-mentall... suggests that most chronically homeless are mentally ill in some fashion. How society should properly care for its mentally ill is an extremely hard problem. Strait jackets and padded cells? Forced drug treatments? Or let them camp under bridge overpasses?