I'm familiar with some similar situations here in California. Families where codependency somehow pulls everyone together despite struggling under the yoke of alcoholism, mental illness, early pregnancies, physical and sexual abuse by various in-laws and other distant relatives, etc. You can pull the children away from the parents, but all of the teaching remains and the children go on to slide into the same situations. Those who get out of the cycle (which actually happens more often than I expected) seem to need every resource that their communities provide, just to stay afloat.

The author of the article seems upset at the city government for their finger-wagging approach toward forcing the homeless along some path to success, and I would just add that when winter comes around and people still aren't moving up your ramp to success, it's time to err on the side of charity.