To me, this world seems incomprehesnibly evil. That means there's something I don't get.
It would appear the most fundamental human right is the right to be left alone. That implies a right to occupy some portion of Earth's surface unmolested.
Like other types of economic violence, homelessness is a control tool. Society has decided a percentage of the population will not be permitted to live freely, by ensuring that the cheapest housing is too expensive. Hundreds of millions of outsiders are forced to live their lives in public.
Cheap housing is unavailable for the same reason there can't be cheap medical care for most people. Society wants most people to work harder than strictly necessary. Fear is a useful motivator, but the threat has to be credible. Examples must be set. The good must suffer to deter the bad.
Seeing people down on their luck also makes others feel superior.
The problem is enabled by social trust and conformity, the general sense that things work out for the best. Many homeless persons voted for the politicians who passed the laws eliminating their options. Most never vote at all.
How to solve homelessness (if society didn't want to keep it around):
The only solution to poverty is slow improvement through accumulation. That plus compound interest could make anyone reasonably well off if they're prevented from making dumb mistakes.
Humans evolved to take small steps, which explains why the stone age lasted half a million years. It's hard to keep up with the arbitrary regulations of society. Whatever simplifies life will also improve it.
A starter home of a few square meters should be cheap enough for anyone. Fewer things can go wrong in simpler environments. Driven by status and simple motives, owners would have an incentive to add living space.
Of course millions of homeless persons couldn't keep even the lowest paying jobs. They may possess a lot of energy, but it comes and goes in disruptive ways.
Different people have incompatible preferences and time horizons. Some just want to be left alone with their demons or drugs, skulking in the desert or a cavern or basement, with fences for mutual protection. In the past, hermits could eke out marginal lives on the edge of civilization.
Western countries have achieved declining fertility by overcomplicating themselves. Most people would be happier with fewer responsibilities.
Low-cost housing is the first solution to the world's many problems. Absent private living space, a place to live in peace, civilized life is impossible. The most important thing the government could do is to stay out of the way.
Someday, everyone could feel wealthy in virtual reality.
All of this is of course purely theoretical and shouting in the wind. While we're at it, low-IQ birth control should be encouraged to improve the human gene pool, despite God's hearsay opinion to the contrary.
The best hard SF novel ever written: Infinite Thunder by Jack Arcalon.
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