As Funding Doubled, Homelessness Grew. Turner Points to Failed System.

The homeless industrial complex has grown exponentially in the last decade, and yet the homelessness crisis has gotten worse. The problem isn’t funding; it’s a deliberately failed model.

Just as Democrats don’t want people to get jobs and go off welfare, and just as Dems don’t really want to solve the crime crisis, they also don’t want to address the root causes of homelessness. The more chaos and poverty and crime there are in the cities, the happier Democrats are, because their dictatorial style of government and election fraud thrive best in such environments. The huge network of Democrat ballot harvesting from homeless people in Los Angeles is just one example of why Dems keep the homeless industrial complex going.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner has been emphasizing the high prevalence of drug abuse and mental illness among homeless people in America, noting that treatment for these causes would be much more beneficial than simply providing housing and freebies.

The homeless industrial complex perpetuates itself at all costs … literally.

From 2013-2024:
X Revenue and compensation more than doubled
X Taxpayer funding up 67%
X But homelessness GREW

Under @POTUS and @WHFraudTF, taxpayers should not pay more for our most vulnerable to… pic.twitter.com/edosYuMYAs
— Scott Turner (@SecretaryTurner) September 4, 2026

The War on Poverty cost tens of trillions of dollars, or the equivalent of the cost for most of our wars in 250 years, and yet it did not meaningfully budge the poverty line, but did add many more people to permanent government dependency. The reason I bring this up is because government bureaucrats and politicians realized they could use the welfare system to keep people dependent on government and relatively poor, making them more likely to vote for bigger government and higher taxes. Similarly, the homeless industrial complex thrives on failure. It does not want to bring down the homelessness rate, because then too many bureaucrats and NGO workers would be out of jobs.

Hence, we see ridiculous programs like free (taxpayer-funded) alcohol shots for homeless alcoholics in San Francisco or free drug paraphernalia for homeless drug addicts in Los Angeles. Democrats like those running my own town of Tucson, Ariz., refer to the homeless as “unhoused,” woke terminology meant to perpetuate the idea that a mere lack of buildings is the problem. Turner rejects the “housing first” model of addressing homelessness and prefers a “treatment first” model.

Data shows 75% of homeless Americans are addicted to drugs, while 78% suffer from mental illness.

Housing alone won’t solve homelessness.

This is our new playbook. https://t.co/9RdQfK5ZTD
— Scott Turner (@SecretaryTurner) August 12, 2026

Of course, part of the issue is that we can no longer incarcerate mentally people against their will. Ever since John F. Kennedy shifted homeless responsibility toward the federal government and Jimmy Carter launched the effort to empty the asylums, the number of mentally ill people wandering the streets has gone up considerably. Yes, there is a correlation. Turner is right to highlight the utter failure of government homeless programs.

Editor's Note: President Trump is fighting to renew America in this 250th birthday year.

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