Ehrenreich is anything but confused on this matter. There is a societal failure here and the criminalization of being poor is a further failure.
As I pointed out in another comment, a large part of the modern urban homeless problem is related to the fact that we don't have mental institutions the way we used to. I'm glad we don't, but when we eliminated them we didn't come up with alternatives to house and treat the people who needed them.
As I pointed out in another comment, a large part of the modern urban homeless problem is related to the fact that we don't have mental institutions the way we used to. I'm glad we don't, but when we eliminated them we didn't come up with alternatives to house and treat the people who needed them.