Giving people housing helps those homeless who have the wherewithal to go forth and build a life from that point. That population of homeless are rarely chronically homeless. The most visible source of homeless, the chronically homeless population accounting for the most deaths, the most crime, the most in need of resources, are the drug addicted and mentally ill. The solution is not to create more sober housing that will be turned down by addicts or people who aren't in the right state of mind who believe they really do have a better life living on the sidewalk. The solution is to create mental health facilities and drug treatment centers, and to remove people off the street by offering a choice of going to seek treatment at one of these places, or jail. Living in subhuman conditions on the street shouldn't even be an option
It's embarrassing to me that LA county is putting up port a potties underneath freeway overpasses and patting themselves on the back for their "lofty" goal of 10,000 shelter units in 10 years, when they should instead be building hospitals and long term psychiatric wards if money were to actually be spent on doing the most good towards the people impacted by this public health crisis on our sidewalks.