yeah, I was guilty of this thinking... in college

Back in college, in my flaming-leftie phase, I thought the solution to homelessness was easy: give the homeless homes! There—job done. Now that I'm older, more worldly, and familiar with actual homeless people in the DC-Metro area, I know that nothing is so simple. Most intractable human problems don't admit of easy solutions. Take the "war on drugs," for example: there's been a ton of emphasis on shoring up the border, which I'm not against by any means, but that's only part of the problem. The problem that some people on the right don't like to admit is that the supply of drugs is entering the country because there's a demand. So what can we do to reduce demand? Instead of thinking of this as a chicken/egg, either-or situation, what if we saw it as a both-and kind of thing? Stanch the influx of drugs while doing what we can to help addicts, educate people, and prevent further addiction. I don't know what specific form such a program might take, but I do know it needs to be tailored to the local culture: what works in Seattle won't work in Los Angeles. That, at least, is a first step.