this seems like another one of those "easier to swallow than actual sweeping change" solutions.

i would absolutely love to see more housing options for people living on the streets, and i wouldn't fuss too much about a reasonable tax increase to fund it, either.

but you are correct that addiction and mental illness aren't going to go away just because people have a secure room.

mass dmh is stretched way thin and barely serves a fraction of the people who need services. in our zeal to put a stop to the abuse of the mentally ill, we let the pendulum swing a hair too far to the other side and the threshold for forcing treatment is very high.

the general public barely has a surface understanding of how laws and funding work and i don't see many voters clamoring for additional funding or law changes.

but this "build a bunch of rooms" idea gets traction because it seems like a simple magic bullet. not enough rooms so build more rooms! ta-da! we did something!

it's not near enough and without simultaneously addressing mental illness and addiction the results are going to be very lackluster.