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Extreme and existential worries are largely dealt with so one can dream of and start planning for a future. Impossible if you are "homeless" and society spits on you, as if you're a dreg to be garbaged, and you've lived like that for a decade or more. The difference is life and death.
By the way, this is also why a "single payer health insurance plan" is optimal, the reasoning and all is in the same conversation.
What I mean by "single payer plan" is one where everyone, being human, is entitled to health and pharmaceutical (generic, if possible) care - and where if a citizen can't afford a pot to piss in they are still obliged to send in for their care card, so they can use it. (No penalty for not having it, of course - since once such a situation is discovered a card is stamped out pretty much on the spot.)
The importance of this is that Doctors, I mean GPs, on meeting with a totally distraught and alienated patient, can use this as an opportunity to heal.
Medical treatment isn't all pills, tho' for purely physical ailments (high blood pressure, COPD, etc) the best treatment is available.
But also, in a single payer Gov't mandated health plan interesting new ideas, to take the load off the system and to benefit the community, have a fertile soil to grow. GPs may introduce even the most extreme patients to group lifestyle discussions geared to *their* immediate problems, with respectful feedback from *their* peers, led by professionals who've seen it all. Of course the GP would monitor the situation - because the patient comes first.
Coupled with this a minimal dental plan is also a must.
Suppose you (middle class) meet a person on the street ("homeless type"
, and talking with him/her you notice dental problems. The plain fact is that in the developed world visible dental problems are a no-no. You *will* take note. In many circumstances people can let themselves go and still maintain a middle-class status quo, but a "homeless type" person doesn't have that advantage when dealing with you. The dental no-no works against him/her in any dealings that might otherwise work to advantage. A minimal dental plan should give *every citizen*, "homeless" or not, timely cleaning and aesthetic work.
The whole of the above is not only possible, but it is actual in many parts of the world.
but, this is not a new idea.
Read either "Ecotopia" by Ernest Callenbach, or read "Ecotopia Emerging", also by Ernest Callenbach.
Part of the idea, is that when people are assured of a basic living, that many folks will opt to put in their spare time working on social problems that need to be solved. Our current economic model leaves many of us with no extra time and energy to do anything other than work for our basic survival. Many of our social challenges are left to being solved by volunteer labor, yet they could be solved by creating fun and enjoyable jobs that also get those challenges either solved or well on the way to being solved. The problem is that most of those jobs don't pay a living wage. If we had some kind of minimum living guarantee, many people might opt to spend their spare time doing what they most love, which often turns out to benefit other people as well.
"You may say I'm a dreamer...but, I'm not the only one." John Lennon, from 'Imagine'.
Check out Callenbach's books. Very good reads, and thought provoking. What would a future that works look like? 