[standardUser]

Many homeless people suffer from physical and mental disabilities that make them incapable of living independently. They aren't volunteering to live in grotesque poverty, nor are they in-between jobs, so they don't fit into your overly-neat dichotomy. I'd argue that any serious steps towards addressing homelessness should start with a realistic assessment of the issue, not axe grinding.

[gotoeleven]

Somehow we've collectively decided that the best way to deal with people who can't take care of themselves is to ... let them take care of themselves and also give them free needles.

We clearly need to bring back insane asylums and institutionalization. Why can't we just try this again and try to make them less abusive?

[heavyset_go]

> We clearly need to bring back insane asylums and institutionalization. Why can't we just try this again and try to make them less abusive?

We can't even make the ones that exist today "less abusive"[1].

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28857567

[standardUser]

I think we have to go back to some institutionalization, but only as part of the solution. We need to decriminalize drugs to remove the biggest barrier to treatment, and then fund treatment programs to remove the second biggest barrier. And we need to expand mental health services to be available to everyone regardless of insurance or ability to pay.

Each one of those things is super crazy expensive (except for decriminalizing drugs, which could save a lot of wasted funds).