[UI_at_80x24]

Yes because it's the regions fault people don't want to freeze to death on a sidewalk in Minnesota.

The first thing I would do if it looked like sleeping on the street was my only option is start walking south.

The problem is wealth disparity; not drugs, not geography, not 'life-style', not 'poor choices'. These "certain cities" on the West coast are prime examples of the wealth gap, people are homeless because they can't afford to live there. Nothing more. The wealth-gap is CAUSING the problem.

The wealth gap was less at the start of the French Revolution then it is now.

[bluGill]

Most homeless have mental issues. Minnesota has a good welfare system. However the cold in MN means that those who generally don't trust government (meaning that they will run away from any help the government tries to give unless restrained in an often inhuman way) either freeze to death or make their way south. Thus the poor in MN have a house of some sort. There are a few who migrate north for the summer and back south for winter.

No amount of safety net helps when your mental illness makes escaping the notice of the safety net a priority. It is a hard problem and I don't think anyone has a good solution.

[macspoofing]

>The problem is wealth disparity; not drugs, not geography, not 'life-style', not 'poor choices'.

I just don't think so. Anybody can get a bad break and end up homeless, I agree. But for long-term multi-year/multi-decade homelessness, mental illness and alcohol+drug abuse has to be a key component. Having lived in a big city with a major homeless problem, you can't ignore those factors because you see it right in front of you every day. It feels like gas-lighting to claim otherwise.