What you are recommending is a reprisal of this concept out of the past.
http://poorfarm.benjaminbruce.com/history/index.html
There is a road a few miles from my home called “Poor Farm Road”. I have often thought that this makes a lot more sense than trying to put people in homes they can’t pay for and giving out food stamps. It would provide a safety net for those who can’t make it any other way while not promoting the idea that the world owes anyone a living. It would be like belonging to an oldtime farm family, everyone expected to do whatever they were able to do. Most people who were capable of making it on their own would be glad to work hard to make a life of their own rather than staying on the “Poor Farm”. Anyone who caused trouble on the poor farm could always go and work on the chain gang.
While I agree that it is basically the poor farm concept, we are a lot better at doing things today then they were back when. The emphasis is on this not being a long term concept, but as a temporary means to provide a reasonable standard of living, at lower cost, while waiting for a turn around in an unstable and destructive economy.