I think we have to do both.
We've got to eliminate the corruption at the top. Because the help won't get to the people at the bottom if you don't. Or at best, much of the help will be wasted, embezzeled, diverted, etc.
But if there is a large contingent of homeless people who aren't mentally ill or addicts, as claimed in that Toronto link, they need a hand up.
And the mentally ill and drug addicts need to be in appropriate institutions. Which means Congress needs to overturn the court rulings which allowed them out on the street. If necessary they need to take authority over such cases away from the judicial system.
But if they do that it needs to be as narrowly restricted as possible. Administrative courts, as an alternative to the judicial system, get too cozy with the department and administration they are supposed to be providing judicial overview for.
“And the mentally ill and drug addicts need to be in appropriate institutions. Which means Congress needs to overturn the court rulings which allowed them out on the street.”
See this is why I say you have to start at the top. Congress, courts, and the local governments have no interest in fixing these problems. In fact, they are actively making them worse. Until you get rid of the corruption at the top, there won’t be any reform, because it’s not in their interests, and they only care about what benefits them, not society.