[derefr]

Proposed solution: give the homeless a (publicly-funded) place to be that fits their needs even better than a library does.

In chemistry, when you have a both a product and a side-product dissolved in a liquid (say, water) and you want to purify the solution to have only the product, you don't try to take the side-product away directly; instead, you pour in another fluid with different viscosity that the side-product will prefer to its original solute, and then shake things up. After everything settles, the product is in one layer, the side-product is in the other, and you can now drain the layers into separate flasks and wash/evaporate/crystallize out your product.

People, like chemicals, can't just be told what to do; you need to give them a place they prefer to be if you want any hope of them moving there.