Homelessness

I am on the board of the Siena/Francis House in Omaha which is a homeless shelter that also has a women's shelter and an addiction rehabilitation program.

And so, I think about homelessness somewhat frequently. And, I wonder if it is a necessary thing based on capitalism and the possibility that capatilism necessitates a super low class that simply fails to integrate into the system or if homelessness is really based on deep-seated psychological problems that would result in homeless people in any economic system in any period of time. This is not a statement about an individual homeless person but homelessness as a whole and its underlying causes. If you go back to first principles, is homelessness caused primarily through neglect or systemwide breakdowns or is it caused because of the existence of certain types of disabilities that will regularly exist at the margins of organized society. This is not a statement of position - just a thought experiment.

I don't really know the answer, but would be curious about any thoughts or responses.

On a related topic, if you could impact homelessness in your community - what would you do? I have the unique ability to push for some measure of effort in Omaha, and I'd love ideas to help the community's homeless population.