There was a Federal lawsuit and consent decree that forced NYC to house homeless people.

It had a lot of negative impact on poor people in general. Mentally ill homeless people skipped the line for subsidized housing and had an outsized impact on crime and quality of life issues in public housing.

Recent policies to guarantee housing has made NYC something of a magnet. If you live upstate, you may need to wait a year (or more) for a Section 8 voucher, or you can show up in NYC and have interim housing in 48 hours.

Most of the visible homeless related issues are a result of the elimination of involuntary commitment. Without supervision, people won’t take the medications they need because the side effects suck. It’s an impossible problem with no solution.

> It had a lot of negative impact on poor people in general. Mentally ill homeless people skipped the line for subsidized housing and had an outsized impact on crime and quality of life issues in public housing.

I don't know much about this but there's got to be more to that story. Personally, I'm more than okay with policies that attract some additional homeless people to our city if it means that (1) those people get to sleep in a bed each night and (2) there are fewer people sleeping on NYC streets in general.

What I legitimately don't understand is why there are still so many people sleeping on the street...

Depends. Short-term homeless are economic tragedies (lost work, divorce, etc).

Long-term homeless usually have significant health and other issues. Stuff like serious mental health issues, chronic alcoholism, drug issues, etc.

I’m not an expert in the subject, just pointing out that you can die or lose your toes sleeping outside in the North, which changes things a bit.