People in this group often lack a reliable support structure such as family and friends. Providing properly motivated individuals with an opportunity to succeed is never counterproductive. Second are people who have developed unnatural dependencies through government entitlements and, as a consequence, have been demoralized by bad habits and resultant antisocial behaviors. These individuals need the motivation of accountability and consequences. But providing further monetary awards to satiate the bad habit of dependency is little more than an additional millstone around their necks.
Some individuals are genuinely dependent, such as the old, the infirm, and the very young.
The people in this third category cannot avail themselves of opportunity and are motivated by dire need. These are the people to whom public and private society must lend a hand. A country that does not tenderly care for its genuinely needy citizens is narcissistic indeed. Reducing the homeless population requires a different strategy for each category, making the broad-brush approach ineffective. Additionally, those who wish to solve the problem by citing the number of homeless and multiplying that number by a livable, publicly-supplied subsidy, forget to mention that homeless statistics are frequently distorted.