my unpopular opinion: homeless encampments in the US are a result of housing becoming unaffordable.
I’m not saying most people ended up in tent cities because they couldn’t afford rent. usually people will sleep in their cars, find a spot in a shelter if one’s available, crash with relatives etc. at least here (Seattle) most of those who live in big tent cities are homeless because of mental illness: drug addiction and/or psychosis.
but serious addiction isn’t new. where did addicts live in the '80s? crack houses! before real estate turned into gold, there was plenty of mold-infested, aabestos-ridden, lead-painted substandard housing left abandoned or rented cheaply by slumlords. junkies could sleep there.
now, most of those buildings have been torn down and luxury condos rebuilt in their place, at least in the big cities.
I’m not pro-crack den. the old buildings were health hazards. but junkies can’t afford the upscale housing that replaced them. they can barely afford tents.
it sounds like you and your neighborhood have chosen tent cities over crack houses, then.