I think this is a tough one.

In a city I used to live in, a local news station sent people out undercover, pretending to be homeless people, to see how much the "average" homeless person made in a weekend of panhandling. (All the proceeds were later donated to homeless shelters.) The amount was shocking ... I can't remember the exact amount now, but the average was over $1,000 per person in a weekend. Ummmm ... that's $52,000 per year ... and that's more than I make working full-time! Perhaps this isn't the norm in every city, all the time ... but I think it was a wake-up call of sorts.

I think it depends quite a bit on demographics as well. In the town I live in now, there are a few homeless people. However, we have a very low unemployment rate and very high per-capita public spending. Every organization in town, from the police to the churches to AA to counselors, has tried to help and work with these homeless people ... to no avail. They live the way they live by choice, they don't want to be "helped" or "changed" or "cured." If they wanted to get off the streets, they could have an apartment and a job tomorrow, literally. I'm not saying this is the norm eveywhere, though. I know that in the San Francisco bay area, the cost of living is so high and affordable housing so scarce that the majority of homeless people are working parents with kids. (My friend works for an outreach program there.) So, I think it varies a lot from area to area.

I think cities need to make an effort to help people and provide a means for them to get off the streets. For some of them, this works well. Realistically, however, it has been shown time and time again that the best efforts of governments for the most part fail to make a meaningful reduction in the number of homeless people.