Deinstitutionalization was a colossal mistake.
A delusion of the 1950s and 1960s. The Feds, beginning in the late 1950s, mandated the emptying of the mental hospitals, which happened over the next 10-20 years. Between that emptying of the hospitals and not hospitalizing those who should have been, you have more than half of the "homeless problem". Throw the chemical addicts in with the people who should be in mental hospitals, and that's probably on the order of 75% or 80% of the sacred homeless.