Good questions, Thisguy. And these are the things we must think through as a community.  But I'm not advocating a "why kick them when they're down" approach, but one of dealing with the problems proactively--providing housing for the homeless, and drug and mental health treatment for everyone, homeless or not, whose behavior, due to drug or mental health issues, negatively impacts the rest of the community.  We do not normally hold sick people to the same standards of behavior as the healthy, so deal with the sickness first. I spelled out earlier where the money can come from.

I also think that our laws have become overly controlling of behavior that does not negatively impact anyone--drug  and open carry laws being cases in point.  We need to back off and rethink how our laws create, rather than control, crime. Scandinavian countries and some others have much to teach us about tolerance.