Homelessness is a specturm. Some people may just need a lift-up, (or an experience that changes the way life is viewed so they can find meaning in it again [1]) to be back to managing a functioning life again. What you want is to give them an opportunity to be in a less stressful enviroment with proper shelters and foods.
Addiction of any form (to cig, to opium, or to herions, etc, as well the more socially acceptable forms such as to sex, work, consumerism) is a coping mechanism for stress. It's counter-productive to be in an urban setting with the worst living conditions (ie homeless) which maximizes stress in so many aspect of your daily life, and then trying to 'cure' addiction and turn people into a functioning unit in society again so they can work enough hours to make enough income to pay rent.
Perhaps it's more productive to view every homeless person as someone who was burnt-out and broke, and happened to run out of options in their attenuated safety net like getting a loan from their parents to pay rent. And from that on existing health/mental conditions/dependencies they had would often exacerbate, and it got harder and harder to break the vicious cycle.
> ... interested in importing homeless Americans with mental/health issues...
Mental/health issues are a spectrum too. And this is not about "importing homeless Americans". This should be more like a rehab/retreat none-profit program for people who are stressed out in urban American life to experience life in a more stree-free enviroment closer to nature to connect back with the plants and terrains (away from all loud, harsh and unhealth stimuli and mind-numbing concretes, smells and unfriendiness of an overpopulated city).
It'll cost less than the War On Drugs, and if enough smart people are involved, we can definitely structure it in a way where on a long run it'll economically and culturally beneift all parties.
> ...worked and paid taxes in any foreign country? Then you would know how hard it is...
The purpose is to introduce a change of enviroment to a less-stressful one for them. Something like a training visa or work holiday pass (or even an education one [2]) would do. It would be easy esp when the orgs backing you have international recog.
As an NGO, there are many ways this can be executed after fundings are secured. We definitely need to collaborate with local institutes in ways that make sense to them. It can also be something that has an element of spirituality to it (like a church or temple retreat that also helps with rehab), or a commune on self-sustainability (where they'll still have to do work everyday). I see this as the most pragmatic way to lower the cost of living while giving people a dignified living experience that would be much better (and meaningful) than living on the street in CA as a homeless person.
[1]: this is why a change of environment can be extremely impactful to mental health. And this is also why psilocybins, etc, taken in the right settings, are useful for mental wellness. )
[2]: Can typically last 6 months to a year. And if we have 4 countries involved, that will be 2~4 years. After that there are many ways this can branch off.
We can start off with 5000 quota a year to gauge interest (we'll make it easy for people to apply), and gradually scale up to 50,000 in 5~10 years, (while keeping track of how effective this is comparing to the alternatives).