Benevolent Cruelty

America’s homelessness problem has been portrayed by much of the media and by many mental-health professionals as a crisis of housing and safe drug usage. Unfortunately, while this view and the policies that follow from it are undoubtedly sincere and well-intended, they are also misguided and will do nothing to address the causes of a problem that has been allowed to get out of hand. In what follows, I want to re-examine the causes of homelessness and the shortcomings of the current approach to addressing it, before suggesting an alternative path forward. Read Full Article »