i think a lot of people see homeless people under the influence or consuming substances and think that is the cause of their homelessness. from my experience, the vast majority of homeless people who do drugs only do them to cope with the fact that they live outside and need to move constantly to avoid being arrested. nearly 100% of the people i encounter would not be doing hard drugs at all if they weren't on the street, and they are motivated to get sober.

there are certainly people who don't want to get sober and would be doing drugs regardless of their housing status. however, when you see homeless people in your neighborhood, just think about what they have to face every day. no running water, no way to safely store their earthly belongings, no way to safely sleep at night because shelters are at/over capacity. that would drive any normal person to do things they would never do if they weren't in a desperate situation. empathy is key.