Not in any way trying to defend churches (I do agree they collectively should do more) ,. but I suspect from a lot I"ve seen in my life,.. the location and capabilities of most churches is just not adequate to sustain the need that might be expected to be put on them.

As an example, where I live in Portland, OR,.. some quick Googling says there's 736 churches in Portland city-limits and an estimated 2,268 churches in the Portland Metro Area. There was also a recent update to the homeless count, estimating roughly 16,000 homeless.

• for those 736 churches.. would need to shelter roughly 21 people (constantly)

• for those 2,268 churches would need to shelter 8 people (constantly)

While those numbers seem small enough to be achievable, it's not just "providing shelter to the individuals".. but it would also be providing meals, bathrooms, dealing with any mental health issues, dealing with guide-animals or medical problems or addiction issues , etc, etc.. I just dont' think most churches are staffed or equipped to handle that. You'd also have to expect were something like this to happen and word got out,. it would immediately attract more people to the area, which then compounds the problem again.

I'd love to see a different kind of (modern) organization be created that was some sort of non-denominational support structure where the architecture and staff and procedures etc were all designed more intelligently around this need. I do think it's possible to achieve with the right architecture. We build all sorts of "purpose built things" (sports stadiums, airports, etc). It seems like imagining and building a building "purpose built" to help support the needy would certainly be possible.