THE SOLUTION TO HOMELESSNESS IS HOMES::

 In the mid-2000s, President George W. Bush's "housing first" program made substantial inroads against the problem. President Barack Obama continued the campaign with the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program in 2009 and a follow-up program in 2010. As a result of these efforts, the nationwide homeless population has continued to fall... [...]

About 3.5 million Americans will experience homelessness at some point in time, but only about a half-million are homeless at any given time, and roughly 87,000 of these are chronically homeless. By some estimates, housing a homeless person and providing them with a caseworker to see to their needs costs about $10,000 a year. That means for less than a billion dollars a year, chronic homelessness could be ended in the U.S. If temporarily homeless people were housed in temporary housing, and if each temporary residence were occupied half the time, homelessness of all kinds could be eliminated for about $10 billion a year. That's less than a seventh of what the government spends on food stamps.

The spending would be worth it. Homeless people are the country's most destitute and needy citizens, and every day they spend on the street is a human tragedy. It's hard to think of a better way to use a tax dollar than on housing a homeless person. What's more, a federal initiative to end homelessness would utterly transform many of the country's cities, making them more pleasant for all residents and raising productivity.

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