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About\xa0 1.4 million people in the United States end up in homeless shelters every year, with many thousands more living on the street. You could fill the city of San Diego with the unhoused. The problem seems gigantic, tragic, and intractable. But there are proven solutions. For the chronically homeless, a key strategy is supportive housing\u2014providing not only a stable apartment but also services like psychiatric and medical care on-site. TheNew Yorkercontributor Jennifer Egan spent the past year following several individuals who had been homeless for long periods of timeas they transitionedinto a new supportive-housing building in New York. \u201cIs it easy to bring people with these kinds of difficult histories into one place in the span of eight months? No,\u201d she tells David Remnick. \u201cDoes it work? From what I have seen, the answer is yes.\u201d By one estimate, addressing the country\u2019s homeless problem would cost about ten billion dollars. But Egan argues that figure pales in comparison to what we\u2019re spending on the problem in the form of emergency medical care, emergency shelter, and other piecemeal solutions. \u201cNo one wants to see that line item in a budget, but we are already spending it in all of these diffuse ways,\u201d she says. \u201cWe are hemorrhaging money at this problem.\u201d