It solves the immediate problem, but doesn't come anywhere near actually solving the reason why people end up using hotel 22. To do so means doing things like destigmatizing mental health issues so that people are willing to get help before the problems spiral out of control.

You also need to work on outreach -- letting people on the streets know that there is a place they can go to get help. Social services departments tend to not be nearly explicit enough in helping get people to the right sorts of help they need; additionally, a lot of social workers are overworked and underpaid, which leads to a good amount of burnout which further exacerbates the problem.

Saying we need more housing shows a misunderstanding as to why this problem exists. There are a lot of things that need to be done before, and concurrent with, housing in order to fix this problem. Otherwise, you'll end up just whitewashing the situation.

And there are programs like that, focusing on getting people housed first, as people finally realize that this could be more helpful than shelters, etc.:

http://santacruz.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/t...

Linked from that article: http://www.unitedwayla.org/home-for-good/

Most long term homeless Americans are severely mentally ill. That makes them eligible for Supplemental Security Income ($950/month), Section 8 (subsidized housing), Medicaid (free health care), and a variety of local grants and subsidies.

But if they could keep their shit together well enough to navigate that system, they would probably just get a job.