The White House has promised swift action on homelessness. It aims to dismantle encampments, force addicts and the mentally ill into treatment, and yank federal funds from cities that refuse to police tents and open-air drug use. For residents exasperated by sidewalk squalor, that sounds like overdue toughness.

In reality, casting the homeless as nothing more than a public nuisance understates the crisis and diverts money and attention from the broader solutions that are needed.

Encampments are only the visible edge of a wider emergency. Roughly two-thirds of unhoused Americans spend nights in cars, motels or overcrowded shelters. From 2023 to 2024, the number of people experiencing homelessness nationally jumped 18%, with the fastest growth among families. Behind those numbers is a stru

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