How to make homelessness policy work

Late last month, the world watched something extraordinary: San Francisco cleaned up its homeless mess, practically overnight. Unfortunately for residents of that city, it wasn't for them. The quick cleanup was a courtesy to the Chinese leader Xi Jinping and 20,000 other visitors to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting. And it was only a temporary measure. The joke seems to be on Californians, and it has been for decades as the Golden State has deteriorated under bad policies. I grew up in California, spent nearly my entire life there, and started my family there. I started multiple billion-dollar companies in…