I disagree, intent matters a great deal. My conservative friends in Texas don't actually want poor people / immigrants / etc housed, it's a part of their value system - "If they want housing, they should work for it!" thinking. My liberal friends in San Francisco hold the opposite mindset, they want everyone housed, working or otherwise, even if it's done in their own neighborhood.

Policy needs work, I agree. My conservative friends like to mock me, blame the Democrats, or just the entire concept of liberalism, for every problem in San Francisco. Maybe they're right, but I've heard strong arguments that many problems we face are hangovers from old-guard republican policy:

http://www.sfweekly.com/news/the-great-eliminator-how-ronald...

I've also heard arguments that a lot of this boils down to just Prop 13, sponsored mostly by Republicans, particularly anti-tax activist Howard Jarvis but also Paul Gann.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_13_(197...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Jarvis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Gann

Anyway, I think finger pointing is boring and useless, and as someone who's social circle is split in third between the deep south, the not so deep south, and the capital of liberalism in America, I've learned to address these kinds of discussions with "point your finger at what you think the solution should be instead." Saying "blue states suck at building cities" is just another form of Ad Hominem - what specifically is the problem, and what specifically do you think the solution should be?