I actually think that these cities are past the point of no return.
When the problem was small, the police could roust the few homeless who were on the streets. Make it a bit uncomfortable for them to stay where they are.
But you can’t roust tens of thousands of people. The optics would be so non-PC. So the only other option is to build housing for them. And that would only attract more homeless to your city.
What a sad mess.
I used to think the homeless problem could not be solved.
That view changed one day back in the 1990s.
Bill Clinton was visiting the local city (which had homeless on _every_ corner).
In the twenty four hours before his visit they all disappeared—like magic.
The point—if city leadership wants to fix the problem they will fix the problem.