A National housing strategy will not solve homelessness. Why not? Because 40% of the homeless suffer from chronic, severe, untreated mental illness. Many of the remainder suffer from substance abuse and addiction, and many have a mixture of both. These people are not technically "homeless". They do have homes, and families who care about them. But their illnesses, by distorting the reality of the world around them, have separated them from their homes.

Until the problem is attacked as a public health issue, rather than a social one, it will not improve. Outreach programs targeting the mentally-ill, and addiction programs must first restore the person to health. To a great extent the problem is one of vagrancy rather than homelessness. A housing strategy may help a minority of people on the street, but alone it will certainly fail.