THE SOLUTION IS NOT HOMELESS SHELTERS The solution is giving people a small piece of land to call their own, to build the type of shelter they feel they need.
A lot of people are "homeless by choice" but there are quiet a few in this economy who actually would prefer to live in a more stable environment with a piece of their own land, even if it is just a few feet by a few feet.
This experimental Homeless camp in Placer seems to be a move in the right direction:
A Homeless City in the Woods
New Jersey
AMERICA TODAY: Heartbreaking Pictures From New Jersey's Homeless 'Tent City'
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nTIy0ivXkE[/youtube]
Portland, Oregons "Dignity Village" is a more permanent solution, and a much better alternative to the more temporary "tent cities"- just 3 miles from downtown.
The solution is to take either donated private land, or unused government land (which there is plenty of) and create room for people to erect their own structures. A prime location would be close enough to vital services (most military bases have vital services already).
With the amount of land there is in America, it's really pretty pathetic we have as many people living on the streets as we do. We need to be allowing homeless Americans to move into permanent living situations, even if these situations are not "ideal" it is better than what they have now.
The first thing the federal government needs to do is: Admit we have a problem. The Fed probably doesn't want to admit there is a problem though, because that would be an admission that they haven't been very good stewards of the economy.
