Yes, exactly. That’s the crux of the issue. Most communities haven’t figured out how to keep common areas clean and usable for the nonhomeless population while not infringing on the rights of the homeless, in many communities drug addicted and/or mentally ill population.
Years ago there was no question - the right of the many were considered more important than the individual liberty or free will of any one person so it was an easy choice to institutionalize (jail, hospital, institution, whatever). Now the pendulum has swung waaaaay out to the other side where we consider the individual liberties more important than anything, to the detriment of losing public spaces and amenities to what essentially amounts to a ‘taking’ by squatters. All this is exacerbated by the programs that feed, provide needles, and in a dozen other ways make life on the streets or in the subway station quite bearable. I suspect some time in the future, there will be enough backlash from nonhomeless citizens that more of a balance is achieved. Help – food, medicine, shelter provided, but in ways that don’t encourage squatting and taking over public spaces.