Here's a mystery for you: why the hell isn’t homelessness solved yet?

I grew up on the West Coast and I thought everybody had this problem, but the more I’ve traveled, the more I’ve seen something puzzling - it's just us.

Other places have homeless people, but it's just not the same quality or quantity. You can travel to practically any other first world city in the world, and hardly ever see somebody visibly homeless, then come back and be kicked in the heart with such overt suffering and awfulness.

Why are we failing at something that everybody else seems to be doing better at?

Or, more optimistically - if everybody else is doing better, that means it is solvable, and what are they doing that we can copy?

In this post I’ll:

Diagnose the problem.
Propose a concrete solution, including how to get it past the people who’ve been blocking the necessary reforms.

If you already agree on the diagnosis, I recommend skipping to the solution section (ctrl-f “The key idea”).

How to not de-rail the homelessness conversation

The two most common ways the conversation gets de-railed are:

Some people are trying to help the homeless. Some people [...]

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Outline:

(01:18) How to not de-rail the homelessness conversation

(02:28) Housing costs determine how many people become homeless. Drugs and mental health determine who becomes homeless

(06:33) Why is SF housing so damn expensive? Vetoes, zoning, and entrenched interests, oh my!

(08:08) The proximate cause of SF sucking at building buildings is vetoes

(12:15) SF made it unprofitable to build buildings

(13:49) SF made it illegal to build dense housing

(14:41) There's an organized group who doesn't want things to change. They like things this way

(16:54) The key idea: give people the ability to opt-out. Respect autonomy while still changing the default option to yes.

(19:07) But hasn't this already been tried and it didn't work?

(20:13) How to stop the game of whack-a-mole: police outputs, not inputs

(22:13) What about the homeless who refuse shelter?

(25:00) In conclusion: please spread this so the right people read this and implement it

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First published:
August 31st, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/PiW9CqgcWQrb8hcNR/how-to-solve-homelessness-what-specific-laws-we-need-how-to

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:

Small house surrounded by demolition equipment at dusty construction site.

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“How to solve homelessness: what specific laws we need, how to get it past the opposition, all without being an asshole” by KatSpartz

LessWrong (30+ Karma)

“How to solve homelessness: what specific laws we need, how to get it past the opposition, all without being an asshole” by KatSpartz