Homelessness in the American streets is almost a threat as it brings a lot of troubles to the urban residents and passers-by, not even to mention homeless people themselves. The situation exacerbates as the number of people on the wrong side of poverty only increases. More Americans are just unable to find a job which will allow them to cover monthly bills; many of them lose their housing and have no other place to live than city streets.
Numerous welfare programs aim at providing people with the minimal costs to afford the cheapest housing and other basic needs so that they do not wander in the streets. However, these programs require that people were employed and worked at least 35 or 40 hours per week. Perhaps, homeless people are sometimes too desperate, or lazy, disabled or mentally ill so that they do not consider struggling for any job which makes them ineligible for enrolling in social programs.
The most helpful way to combat homelessness is to provide people who live in the streets with the basic shelter, probably a single room. Probably, it is possible to arrange cheap dormitories where all homeless who are still able and ready to work may live paying a small fee. Disabled and mentally ill people shall enter respective facilities where they will be taken care about. However, care about people who practically cannot pay back costs a lot of money. Therefore, institutions which provide such a shelter have to rely on volunteers and donations from the government or sponsors. Anyway, it cannot happen in any other way – if we want to remove the homeless from the streets, we shall find another place for them to live.