My view of it was as follows:
1. Federal government overspends (prints money), private sector goes into more and more debt (print money)
2. Spent money go into real estate (and stock market)
3. Housing costs go up but wages barely move
4. Some people can't afford hosing any more and become homeless and quit working
5. These people lose grip and start doing drugs, go crazy

I guess there are some crazy people that started out that way, but I think those would probably be a minority.

I am criticizing those reasons, npr, the author and anyone who believes that narrative.

You can’t have a solution if you focus on the symptoms and not the source.

I did but I thought @AJAshinoff was criticizing those reasons.

In other words, spending other people's money while skimming off the top. I would call that predatory statism.

If you want more of something, throw money at it.

If you want less of something, penalize it.

People who know how to "work the system" actually do all right. When I've become unemployed I've usually found work immediately. Many years ago, facing bleak prospects, I tried filing for unemployment. What I found was that I did not know the proper procedure, part of which was being able to plead poverty. Another part was the racism, but I won't get into that.

I suspect that the people who get the benefits are well able to hide their assets. "Yes, I have three kilos of something that's supposed to be pretty good, but we just won't mention that." Or perhaps: "I have 13 children. Yes, they are the same ones that my sister and my three cousins claim to have when the soash worker comes around, but we just won't mention that."

Might read the book "Poverty Is Where the Money Is" by Shirley Scheibla. Rand reviewed it in the August 1969 issue of The Objectivist.

One bright note about the NPR article--the first sentence contains ,"... Karen Bass campaigned last year on reining in homelessness," Yes, they actually used the correct word, reining, where common but mistaken usage seems to be "reigning." That is something King Chuckles does. His mum, an experienced equestrian, did both and knew the difference.

Societal breakdown! Education is free for those willing to learn. Without a HS education your employment opportunity is extremely limited. Without a decent job you will never be able to support yourself let alone a family. You instead get welcomed into the Welfare state and begin a downward spiral into depression, boredom, hunger and mental health issues usually caused by drug dependencies. I can't imagine going through this life without hope because you elected to remain uneducated, ignorant and unemployable.

You saw the LINK to the article.
And read the article, which spelled out the 4 items?

Of course, Drugs are a HUGE part of this, as well as Mental Health Issues.
Failure to adapt a Fair Tax type policy.
And paying money to groups to "help"... Who then have a vested interest in growing the problem.
Finally, liberals who vote for this stuff, without the consequence of having them share their property!

When I lived in Seattle, the liberal bleeding hearts decided that people who were homeless and mentally ill could not be placed in shelters or given medications for their conditions because it would infringe on these people's freedom. These poor souls were thrown to the street wolves to survive--or not--on their own. Most were incapable of taking care of themselves. Other cities followed suit. This is just one reason why the streets are filling with trash and human biological waste as well as thrown-away humans.

While some of the points may have validity, the reason for th existence of those points is ignored. Thus, the main causes are ignored. First, too many do not learn self responsibility, esp. in schools and worse colleges. Second, handouts whould come with requirements, your use drugs, you should go into rehab, or not get public assSitance, we are enabling.
Third, if you sell public handouts for drug money, you go to jail, since no one is arrested for vilent crimes anymore, should be lots of room. Mental illness is hard to distinguise form u=just plain bad upbringing and schooling. That needs to be sorted out. No one schould cross the Soros border without a job promised to them before they come.This whole mentality of entitlement for no reason is merely what politicians use to get voters. As a presiding judege, I saw voters come to poll, unable to rad, but knew which candidate they wanted to vote for, nothing else. We had to point to the number! I actually turned away a voter who once came from another state, to vote second time for Obama in her former precinct, she got turned away, to her dismay.

Good thing we keep a Fresh Supply if Illegals coming in, to keep those wages down!

You don't have to be a math wizard to figure out homelessness. The average cost of rent in most parts of this country is around $1200/month. If we go by the standard of spending up to 25% of your monthly income on rent then you will have to be earning around $35/Hr for a 40 hour work week. The federal minimum wage is around $7.85/Hr.

When you give a mouse a cookie....

NPR = Journalism...since when?

Homeless in New York and other locales certainly wasn't helped when they all decided to become a "sanctuary city" for illegals.

liberalism

and politicians
(creating a problem to complain about and take money to fix and not fix. how much money is missing from NYC and the ex-mayor and his wife??)

and good decent people seeing a problem, not understanding it cause, throwing money at it

So, what are the real reasons?

What else would one expect from St Louis and NPR both.
Typical leftists/communists misidentifying a problem as “ Not Enough Government”.

Past time to defund npr - which I always have referred to as national public ‘whiny’ radio .