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The ironic thing is that the source problems leading to homelessness isn't simply a lack of a home.
There are a number of reasons why people become homeless, and it's kind of pointless to try to profile the homeless as one type of individual over another, because there are varying profiles. You're going to get people who were abused, who lost their job, who got injured or sick and didn't have enough support, or who have mental health issues. You are going to get more people yet who have other reasons for being homeless.
That said, it's probably best to deal with homelessness at the level of prevention. Every advanced economy should have a robust social safety net that prevents people from bottoming out as a result of domestic, health, or economic issues beyond their control.
You aren't going to eliminate homelessness this way, and so the other way to deal with it is to have comprehensive programs to alleviate the suffering that comes with being without a home. This includes accessible shelters, food programs, clothing programs, job training programs, etc. This should be pretty obvious by now. I think the problem isn't so much the existence of such things but their adequate funding and accessibility---mainly their area of coverage and ability to serve people satisfactorily.
I think the one thing that we tend to overlook or otherwise choose to avoid discussing or acknowledging is that we would be hard-pressed to find an economy---even an advanced economy---where inequality wasn't an inevitability. And in most cases, this inequality produces a class of citizens who are impoverished in that they struggle to thrive within the society of which they are a part. The homeless are merely the most visible aspect of the most desperate.
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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön
Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
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