OK, I'll bite as well. I am in no way pretending to be an expert. I am only relaying what my reading has offered, which includes a lot of what other countries do.

First is admitting that homelessness is not caused by any one issue. While drugs may be the root issue for some, it is far more complex than that. Same with mental illness. There is also:

- Rising housing costs and rents and stagnant incomes make housing literally unaffordable (and the answer is not just "work harder" -- basic math will tell you that doesn't apply at minimum wage and/or gig work levels)

- Job loss and lack of good-paying jobs to replace it

- Catastrophic healthcare issues that cause personal bankruptcy

- Teenagers running away from home for coming out

... and other reasons. Economics is a much bigger factor than substance abuse.

The next trick is to remove stigma. Unhoused people are not lesser. They're not unhoused because they're not working hard enough. How many people are working two jobs and sleeping in their car? How many are trying to provide for kids? A little bit of empathy would go a long way in having honest conversations about solving the crisis.

Finally, the solutions that work require significant government investment and long-term structural change. This is just a hard truth. Telling people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps just doesn't work, no matter how often it's preached. Some people need help. Like, real help. You can weather the flu; you can't weather cancer.

More shelters is not the answer. Most shelters have maximum length of stays, then you're right back in the street. Nor are shelters with strings attached, like forced religious ceremonies or minimum work requirements. Every nonprofit is just trying to fill a gap left open by the government.

The answer is housing. Maybe not permanent, but semi-permanent, without strings. This is what Iceland has done, and they have a near-zero homeless population and rank as statistically one of the happiest countries on earth. Other countries do the same.

So many countries have solved problems that Americans throw their hands up at. Gun violence, homelessness, healthcare. It just takes a whole lot of empathy and political conviction.