The Alternative Reality of Homelessness Policy

City Journal ^ | March 26, 2026 | Heather Mac Donald

[EscondidoSurfer]

The abomination that is urban “homelessness” policy rests on the reinforcement of certain unspoken fictions. A recent article on New York’s latest “homeless” outreach program demonstrates how that process works.

Before recycling the usual “homelessness” myths, New York Times reporter Emma Goldberg lets loose with a fabrication of her own making. It is a whopper.

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TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: governmentfailure; homelessness

[EscondidoSurfer]

Homelessness is not solved by current government policies.

[Carry_Okie]

Pretty thorough and level-headed set of observations but lacking another dimension. I spent a fair bit of ten years in borderline homelessness. I was saving money on life to afford going to college. Sometimes I could, sometimes I couldn't.

One particularly bad patch arose when the tools I used to make a living fixing people's boats were stolen. THAT got my attention about the unpredictable nature of poverty.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Homelessness is cured by spending more and more and more on it. And then even more.

At lease the Homeless Industrial Complex prospers.

[PsyCon]

Thanks for posting. Excellent article as always by this author.

[lastchance]

“THAT got my attention about the unpredictable nature of poverty.”

These days it does not take much to find yourself in worse financial shape than the possible downturns planned for. I wish more here grasped that.

[lastchance]

But the money is not being spent to end homelessness. It’s being spent to pay people to make studies telling public and private entities how to end homelessness. And that takes a lot of dosh.

[Carry_Okie]

These days it does not take much to find yourself in worse financial shape than the possible downturns planned for. I wish more here grasped that.

It's too easy to lump people together as an excuse for forgetting "love they neighbor." I just wish the government didn't make it so difficult to help someone. It's not like there's a lack of work to do.

As an alternative system, please consider this interpretation of what is taught in the Torah, long lost for about 3,500 years. It teaches accountability for caring for our brethren through an actual exercise in "trading places."

[xp38]

One would need a sea change in the way homelessness is looked at for any real solution. Since cities are bastions of left think that won’t be happening.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

That is where the "Hand up not a Hand out" comes into play.

A hand up would have been the ability to loan you the tools you need until you could afford to replace them. Maybe even a grant to buy you new tools. It would have been a one time thing and you would have been better off and so would the community.

But we do not have a local system to do that any more. We have a state or federal system that lacks flexibility.

Last week our church went to help a family that had their stove go out. It cost us some time, one of our contractors had to check out all the gas lines before we installed the used stove, (donated a year ago) and since we were there we did some minor repairs and clean up that they were not able to do. Now the family can cook instead of spending more money to buy foods that only need to be warmed up.

The system currently is not made to help with one off one time emergencies. Yet that is where the most good can be done. Repairs to homes and vehicles are often one of the things that lead to people either being able to make it or falling down from poor into poverty.

[jroehl]

We could solve homelessness in California in one year by sending all the H1B visa holders home.

[econjack]

Meantime, the roughly $80,000 the city spends annually on each street vagrant serves largely to preserve that status quo.

"I'm from the gov't and I'm here to help." Yeah, right. Do-gooders who perpetuate the problem by not attacking the cores issues.

[Disambiguator]

Keep in mind that not all homeless want to live in a residential space. Some of them are incapable of functioning in that environment on their own.

[Organic Panic]

Homelessness is not meant to be solved. Too much money to be made prolonging the problem.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“But the money is not being spent to end homelessness.”

That was my point. Graft and corruption suck up most of the money.

[jroehl]

I said you could solve it not eliminate it.

[lastchance]

Yes it does.