Homelessness is the tip of the housing iceberg. Right behind the homeless are those who are a paycheck, or emergency, from losing everything. Behind them are millions of paying out there earnings in high rent, forced to share apartments to live where the job pays. Fronting it all are upper-middle class people, foreign investors, and venture capital, buying up properties to rent out.
The cause is not a lack of "affordable housing", it's a lack of housing, period. What's not affordable are regulations and competing with real estate capital. What's not affordable is spending most of your income on rent, and this is hardly a choice for most people right now.
People will stare, and think, gosh this homeless situation is sad, inhumane, drugs/mental, w/e, but meanwhile, the shortage of housing and the affordability to create more is going to make it worse for everybody, especially those who are stuck in the middle with increasing rents and stagnant wages.