There is an obvious solution IF we abandon the catechisms that afflict so much current political thinking.
1. We need to implement vagrancy laws. No one has a right to live on the streets.
2. To do this we also need a law that requires the state to provide shelter, NONE should be required to or allowed to live outside of shelter.
3. To do both things we need to build shelter facilities that address short term needs. Those needs include the need children have for homes, addicts need to be functional, and the mentally ill need.
I agree with Sandra Day O’Conner in the state should not criminalize that which the homeless must do to survive particularly when there are not enough beds to house them. Instead we will spend millions to enforce fines, ect against those least able to pay, and the costs of enforcement would go a long way to house the homeless if we were more compassionate and were willing to put out the bucks in the first place, but nope lets use enforcement in the hopes the homeless go down the road to another community.
Most vagrancy laws have been unconstitutional since 1972. To have any hope of passing muster, such laws must target specific behavior, such as aggressive panhandling — and even those laws are in serious doubt, because panhandling is considered a form of generally protected free speech. Last year, the 9th Circuit struck down a Boise ordinance prohibiting sleeping in public places without permission, unless the city provides homeless shelters to all who need them; the Supreme Court will review that case this term. In all likelihood, our courts will conclude that people do have a right to live on the streets, so I would not depend on being able to implement legal prohibitions as part of the solution to homelessness and vagrancy problems. This also raises questions about whether homeless people can be forced into shelters — probably not.