David Brooks

In recent years, Rudy Giuliani, the mayor of New York City, has proposed that homeless people who refuse offers of shelter should be arrested, and that able-bodied homeless people should be required to work in return for their shelter. In the following viewpoint, David Brooks, a senior editor of the Weekly Standard, a conservative magazine, argues in favor of these and other measures that force the homeless off city streets. He maintains that such an approach is necessary to protect society from dangerous, drug-addicted vagrants.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. What evidence does Brooks provide that New York is generous toward the homeless?
2. According to the author, what is the problem with the “hardcore homeless”?
3. What is the “tough-love” approach to the homeless problem, as described by the...