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There are generally two categories of homeless: People who can actually get back on their feet again and hold a regular job, and the long term either mentally ill, or mentally ill + drug/alcohol addicted who are not capable of holding down jobs. Just because empty positions exist doesn't mean that the available "talent pool" of homeless could theoretically fill them.

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The ability to "hold a job" is only tangentially related to the ability to "get back on your feet" while being homeless. Having no fixed address, no place to shower, no clean clothes, often having a criminal record (as a result of homelessness not true criminality - vagrancy, trespassing, ect) makes it very, very difficult for even otherwise capable people to get back on their feet and find (let alone hold) another job. Many people with a roof over their head and all the amenities of modern society are capable of holding a job (especially a menial one), but entirely incapable of pulling themselves out of dire straights.

It's kind of a chicken or the egg situation on a long enough timeline. Unattainable housing combined with the fact that 40% of people in this country don't even have $400 in savings drives a lot of people out on the streets, and try being out on the street long-term without developing mental problems or a habit.

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