But if you ask anyone who works to house the unhoused, the affordability of homes is the problem. If you don't have shelter to rely on, how can you possibly treat your mental illness in a safe environment. I actually think it is truly both. IT's the lack of available mental health treatment and the lack of affordable housing. Neither can be fixed with the perverse incentives of the current system we have.
If the goal really was to get as many people off the streets as possible, why don’t our builds look more like the dorms at ucla with shared facilities instead of private apartments with a kitchen built and bathroom built into every unit? Follow the money and see that this is a cash cow for certain developers and nothing more.
With the exception of treatment facilities/hospitals and housing as a basic necessity for all, housing really shouldn't be a central part of the discussion when it comes to people living on the streets, housing (or lack thereof) is not their problem.
Almost all people you see on the streets end up there after burning all bridges in their personal lives because of their illness. You may not be aware of this but there are in fact a lot of options in existence for housing such people, it doesn't work because they are ill and without treatment (forceful), it is hopeless trying to help them.
