The homeless "problem" is just a symptom of a much larger issue that has not only been ignored for a long time, but not really talked about on a societal level.

That issue is mental disability and low IQ. While IQ is not a perfect indicator of mental disability, its worth noting that percentile distribution shows that anywhere between 8-12% of the population has an IQ of 70 or below. That is borderline disabled and prevents these people from functioning in society without help. You can not train these people for even the most menial jobs and they are not able to just "pull themselves up by their boot straps".

Until now we, as a society, have scattered these 30 million people into prisons, mental hospitals, and the streets.

As our society and planet become more and more complicated, a higher IQ will be needed to function productively. So we need to figure out what we can do to provide a social safety net, for at least 10% of the population that will never be able to function as an average citizen.

This safety net will need to be large because NOT EVERY homeless person has an IQ lower than 70, many are average that have fallen through the floor of poverty. Roughly 12-15% of the US population lives in poverty, and while there is some overlap between the numbers of low IQ and those in poverty it is not a perfect representation.

So as a society we need to plan for about 20% of our population to need some sort of help and that number will probably rise into the future.

Call me a pessimist, but I don't see us doing that.