 If the goal is to get people off the streets, get a job, and get off drugs and alcohol, Padgett says the surprising solution is to provide housing first. Don't require them to abstain from drugs first or have a job first. It's nearly impossible to do all of those things without a home. And those rules simply drive homelessness up. People just thought, it's not going to work. You're not going to take a person who's actively using crack or drinking heavily and has a mental illness. It's not going to work. They can't live indoors. They can't.