Not a quick fix, but one that affects the root cause. And what’s the root cause you may ask? A psychology, traditions and the values of an average US family. It’s a thing that is going to be hard to change, but perhaps some legislation may help. Here’s a suggestion (just an outline, let law makers flesh out the details) of a change, which I know most people in US will have hard time accepting, but unless they do, there will be dysfunctional families, lost young adults and homelessness:

1. Parents (or whatever guardian) must remain responsible for food and shelter of their children until they (the children) are capable of supporting their basic needs by themselves, no matter how old are the children. Invest into your children and they will be off your support sooner.
2. At the same time, while parents (guardians) support their children, they are the guardians and have the decision making rights for their children, regardless of their children age (adults or not, you’re an adult when you can support yourself).

Yes, I know, it’s considered a “good thing” to cast children out as soon as they turn 18 and let them fend for themselves, so that they would learn to be stronger and self-sufficient. In reality, immature kids can’t (or don’t want to) invest in their future, fall out from their parents’ influence into who knows whose influence, jump on “adult pleasures”, use drugs, may get involved in crimes, and, most importantly, when parents, all of a sudden, come to their senses and try to fix it, they have no rights to do anything, their child is adult and has the right to screw him or herself, and that’s what they are going to do, supported by the society and the legislation. And so, we let those kids with lack of any experience and underdeveloped brains to fall into the wild river that fills homeless community with newly baked drug addicts without means and lack of any skills to climb out of that hole.

I’m not fantasising, there are countries with strong family traditions, like the country I came from: Armenia. Despite the economic collapse in early 90-ies, a continuous war and recent large number of refugees and even orphans fleeing from Artsakh, there are almost no homeless people in Armenia. The families, or extended families pick up everybody and make sure they have food and shelter.

We say all the time that the family is the building block of a healthy society, yet we created a culture where family bonds are treated by contempt, and we foster lonely and selfish individuals who are easily influenced and manipulated – a breeding ground for psychopaths and criminals.