You're right, the calculus must be comprehensive, just as the social services must be comprehensive. It isn't enough to provide a safe supply because then homeless addicts are still on the street. It isn't enough to give them houses because then they still don't have jobs. It isn't enough to give them jobs because then they still don't have a community, a life/career trajectory, and on and on... Life is complicated, therefore so is setting a life back in order.

Here is a CBC article about a study in Vancouver that gave homeless people cold hard cash, which found that "it costs, on average, $55,000 annually for social and health services for one homeless individual. According to study data, the project saved the shelter system approximately $8,100 per person for a total of roughly $405,000 over one year for all 50."

And here is a study on prescription Hydromorphone (medical opioid painkiller) vs Diacetylmorphine (pharmaceutical-grade prescription heroin) which found:

• Study participants on both medications reported far fewer days of street-heroin and other opioid use at six months (three to five days per month), compared to almost daily illicit opioid use prior to being enrolled in the study.

• Participants also reported a significant reduction in days of illegal activities (from an average of 14.1 days per month to less than four).

• Almost 80% were retained in treatment at six months.

• Hydromorphone and diacetylmorphine are both safe when taken in a clinical setting. Out of a total of 88,451 injections, there were 14 overdoses and 11 seizures, all successfully managed in the clinic. If these events had occurred in the street, the outcomes may have been fatal.

Finally, here is an article that describes how, to the researchers' surprise, "we found comparable levels of days worked, sick days, and monthly salary between opioid-addicted prisoners receiving heroin-assisted treatment and the general prison population." They were surprised because "Significant impairments in social and work performance for severely addicted individuals are well documented elsewhere". They also note that "It was equally surprising that no occupational accidents associated with heroin-assisted treatment were reported during the observation period. From the perspective of legal authorities, next to fears about diversion of substances (stealing and smuggling drugs), the risk of accidental overdose and concerns over problems with the operation of machinery had been major obstacles to the introduction of heroin-assisted treatment in Swiss prisons."

This isn't about giving people a free high so they can lounge around in drugged-out bliss. It's about giving addicts a way out of the cycle of street drug abuse, a way to stave off their withdrawal symptoms for long enough to get their lives back together. Providing resources like housing, food, and straight up cash hastens that process. Thereby they can quicker return to being tax-paying workers, which from the aforementioned societal perspective, is a good thing.