I think it can help a lot under the right circumstances, but if the system is already overwhelmed then funding less permanent solutions for a while may actually be more effective and kind
1. We'd need to pay 5k get a price estimate for all of the permits we would need, and
2. That we would need to either pave a road along the property (which would immediately fall apart from erosion since it would be the only paved road for multiple blocks), or pay $400k for the right to not pave the road
At that point, we stopped even trying. There's no way to build affordable housing in a timeline manner in that city.
I remember reading an article in Portland that the city was expecting N new people to move there in the next 10 years. So they approved construction of housing for N-200k people.
They intentionally set things up to push the poorest and most vulnerable 200k people into homelessness.
When it gets cold, the homeless congregate in the warm interiors of malls. The guards on duty won’t let them sleep there, but they prefer it over being out in the cold.