ineffective local programs to deal with homelessness the nice way.
We don’t actually attempt to deal with homelessness in the nice way here, and we virtually never have. Giving these people housing is seen as a handout instead of what it actually is: a solution that costs less, reduces violence, reduces drug use, is more likely to be accepted, AND has less recidivism - there is literally no drawback, when you consider how much empty real estate there is (another problem we refuse to actually address).
But this is America, we don’t want any of that. We just want prisoners for the for-profit prisons. We want the cruelty against people we see as “lazy.” We want the perceived moral victory of not being one of them.