Not everyone wants to be housed. It’s a hard idea to wrap your head around, but necessary if Indianapolis wants to be a friendly, happy, healthy place to live. There are many people who want to be housed but who are under-housed or without a home. They need resources and public support. There are also people for whom no amount of support will make them swallow the American ethic of home-ownership. These people need to be respected, and they need to be given some space within the city. City officials currently cut down the small copses, bosques, and sheltered areas where their homeless compatriots settle. The usual explanations have to do with safety and public hygiene, and it is to some degree understandable, but it is nonetheless an aggressive—and ultimately unproductive—tactic.