Why does Thailand have so fewer mentally ill and drug addicted homeless, despite its government spending so much less on social programs for the homeless?
That's a particularly negative take, but would be interesting if true. Do you have any reason to believe it is? I'm not even sure how you would measure this. Suicide rate against attempted suicide rate? Other mental health stats?
I live in Thailand (but not in a big city). Out here it's because if you find yourself without a home, you can go build one out of bamboo. If you have some friends to help you, it can be done in a week.
Repealing zoning and building restrictions would go a long way to making the West the same. Land titles enforcement would still put up impediments to construction of makeshift housing, but making it so anyone with land can build a structure without needing a building permit or being limited by zoning would make the creation of housing supply significantly easier. Land is not all that expensive, after all.