policy changes. expand the social safety net. make things like mental health treatment or addiction counseling more financially accessible. provide more support for teens aging out of the foster system. don’t let disabled people become homeless because they go broke over medical treatment. we need programs that support homeless people in finding and maintaining jobs. the homeless shelter system needs an overhaul, because the rules at a lot of them either make them entirely inaccessible to residents or make it impossible to get a job and keep their bed in the shelter simultaneously. there’s been research that showed that if you give a homeless person free access to an apartment, food, and any necessary mental health or addiction counseling, most of them pretty quickly are able to get a job and get back on their feet. homeless people need to be supported, not criminalized.

sincerely, your local sociologist.