Solving Homelessness is Easy. So Why Don’t We Just Do It?

In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio is struggling with the issue of homelessness. There are tons of people sleeping on the street, and New Yorkers are upset about it. One police union briefly trolled the mayor by urging officers to post pictures of homeless people on the union’s Flickr page.

In a rich nation like the United States, homelessness, like poverty generally, is a simple problem to solve policy-wise, but a tough nut to crack politically. Utah, of all places, has demonstrated that the simplest imaginable solution — namely, giving nearly free housing to the chronically homeless — works like a charm, and actually saves money. The only problem is overcoming the political barriers.