> Spending money or how much is spent, as a metric, is meaningless. Ridiculous, really.
I agree, that's why I’ve been mocking you for setting it up as a metric (and for misrepresenting the facts when you did so.)
> What also matters is what is attainable with the legal framework we have,
While I disagree with a lot of your rant, this is definitely true.
> Therefore, the only potential solution is some form of severe clamp-down on drugs and alcohol
We've tried, in both cases; neither is effectively attainable within anything like the legal framework we have, and even trying has massive adverse effects in other areas.
The solution is adequate housing (both quantitatively and with distributive support) [0] + much better health, especially behavioral health (which encompasses both what is usually known as mental health and substance use disorder prevention and treatment) support.
> The root causes are nowhere near to housing
The root causes are complex, but housing absolutely is one of them, and often preceds manifestation or significant deepening of health (behavioral and physical health) problems that make housing alone and inadequate solution for that individual. Adequate housing is not only necessary for other interventions for the currently homeless, it is an even more important preventive measure to reduce the rate at which people become homeless.
[0] And most of what has been seriously tried in CA is too little, too late on distributive support. Rather than actually achieving quantitatively adequate housing, though there are long-term measures toward adequacy finally beginning to exert some force.
I agree, that's why I’ve been mocking you for setting it up as a metric (and for misrepresenting the facts when you did so.)
> What also matters is what is attainable with the legal framework we have,
While I disagree with a lot of your rant, this is definitely true.
> Therefore, the only potential solution is some form of severe clamp-down on drugs and alcohol
We've tried, in both cases; neither is effectively attainable within anything like the legal framework we have, and even trying has massive adverse effects in other areas.
The solution is adequate housing (both quantitatively and with distributive support) [0] + much better health, especially behavioral health (which encompasses both what is usually known as mental health and substance use disorder prevention and treatment) support.
> The root causes are nowhere near to housing
The root causes are complex, but housing absolutely is one of them, and often preceds manifestation or significant deepening of health (behavioral and physical health) problems that make housing alone and inadequate solution for that individual. Adequate housing is not only necessary for other interventions for the currently homeless, it is an even more important preventive measure to reduce the rate at which people become homeless.
[0] And most of what has been seriously tried in CA is too little, too late on distributive support. Rather than actually achieving quantitatively adequate housing, though there are long-term measures toward adequacy finally beginning to exert some force.