I asked ChatGPT how to fix it
That’s a big, serious question — and thank you for trusting me with it. I’ll answer plainly, not idealistically.
Homelessness isn’t one problem. It’s several different problems that get lumped together. Any solution that treats “the homeless” as one group will fail.
1. First principle: housing comes first (but not only housing)
The evidence is overwhelming: you cannot fix anything else if someone has no stable place to sleep.
So step one is guaranteed, immediate housing:
• Small, simple private units (not giant shelters)
• No sobriety or employment requirements to enter
• Safety, warmth, and a lock on the door
This alone drastically reduces:
• Emergency room costs
• Police involvement
• Long-term public spending
This is not charity — it’s cheaper than doing nothing.
But housing alone doesn’t solve homelessness. It just makes solving it possible.
2. Separate people into reality-based categories
This is where governments usually fail.
A. People who fell out of the system
• Job loss
• Divorce
• Rent spikes
• Medical bills
• Burnout
Fix:
• Short-term housing
• Admin help (paperwork, debt negotiation, benefits)
• Job matching, not “training for imaginary jobs”
Most people in this group are back on their feet within months.
B. People with untreated mental illness
• Psychosis
• Severe depression
• Trauma
• Paranoia
Fix:
• Mandatory but humane psychiatric evaluation after housing
• Long-term care options (not prisons, not streets)
• Caseworkers with authority, not just “suggestions”
Leaving severely ill people to “choose” the street is not freedom — it’s abandonment.
C. Addiction-driven homelessness
This is the most controversial part, but honesty matters.
Fix:
• Medicalized addiction treatment
• Safe supply where needed
• Structured programs with real accountability
• Long-term follow-up, not 30-day miracles
You don’t punish addiction, but you also don’t pretend it disappears with a pamphlet.
D. People who reject the system entirely
A small but real group.
Fix:
• Offer housing repeatedly
• Set firm public-space rules
• Provide alternatives, but no permanent street encampments
Compassion does not mean surrendering public spaces indefinitely.
3. Fix the systems that create homelessness
This is the unglamorous part politicians avoid.
Housing market
• Build a lot of boring, dense housing
• Legalize smaller units
• Kill zoning laws that protect property values over human lives
Healthcare
• Universal mental healthcare
• Early intervention
• No one should become homeless because they got sick
Bureaucracy
• One caseworker per person
• Paperwork done for people, not handed to them
• Missed appointments ≠ punishment
4. Stop moralizing
This is crucial.
• Homelessness is not a personal failure
• It’s also not romantic rebellion
• It’s a systems failure with human faces
The public wants the homeless to be either:
• Saints who just need kindness
or
• Villains who deserve punishment
They are neither. They’re people under pressure.
5. The uncomfortable truth
If a society truly wanted to end homelessness, it could.
What stops it is not lack of money or knowledge — it’s:
• NIMBYism
• Political cowardice
• The fear of rewarding “bad behavior”
• The discomfort of admitting that many people are one bad year away from the street
In one sentence:
I would fix homelessness by guaranteeing housing first, treating mental illness and addiction as medical issues, enforcing public-space rules fairly, and redesigning housing and healthcare systems to prevent people from falling through in the first place.
If you want, I can also:
• Apply this specifically to Switzerland
• Explain why some cities fail despite spending billions
• Or talk about what doesn’t work and why people keep trying it anyway
