Statements like this are symptomatic of the Homelessness Industry. We aren't civilized unless we constantly spend more and more and more on the homeless. There is no "right" amount. The answer is always "more more more." And if you don't spend "more," you aren't civilized.
I do a Hell of a lot of work with the homeless on a weekly basis. The reality is that many of the current crop of homeless will never be helped unless you re-open both state mental institutions and involuntarily commit a large number of the homeless population to them, and also debtors' prisons to force the lazy to work and earn their keep.
I think you nailed it. The old expression is: God helps those that help themselves. Some just do not WANT to be helped and actually resent it. I truly believe that.
A friend started a charity that helps mentally ill homeless. It’s a difficult job, but he’s been successful in helping many despite all the bureaucratic hoops the government puts in his way. He has nothing good to say about the government dumping the mentally ill on the streets to fend for themselves.
Another friend had a brother who was one of those discharged from a mental hospital who had no ability to care for himself. Every winter the government would commit him and hold him until spring when they’d again discharge him to live on the streets. Thankfully, someone who actually cared about him finally found him a place to live that would help him. It took a private entity entering the picture before he received real help.