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I live in in the southern region of brazil. The problem of homelessness here is by no means solved but at least some State and City governments are genuinely trying, through government companies (Cohab, roughly "habitation company").

Basically: if you have no house, and your monthly income is low enough, here you can subscribe to Cohab so it eventually "sells" you a house. You do pay for it but it's a rather low amount*. No sane mid class would ever consider those houses - but if you're homeless, it's still leagues above living in an irregular shitshack near the river, made of cardboard, metal sheets and random planks.

Additionally, water and electricity are really cheap if you're poor enough, and your household consumption is below a certain threshold.

The federation also has a similar project (Minha Casa, Minha Vida my house, my life), but... frankly I can't trust the federation to not divert tax money into someone's pockets.

* I think R$150~300/month ≃ €25~50/month is typical. For reference, minimum wage in my State is R$1.984,16 ≃ €300 per month.

Now, here's the catch: the local governments are doing this shit with a tiny fraction of the income the city, state and federal governments in USA have. Why the hell are they not doing something similar? Because of all that ideological meritocracy babble?