Mangano—who served as director of homeless services in Cambridge long before joining the Bush administration—says that in recent decades, service providers have turned their attention away from disabled individuals and towards homeless families.

Meanwhile, “the most vulnerable population, those people who had been de-institutionalized, who had mental illnesses and other co-occurring disorders, were essentially left behind,” he says.

It was in response to this phenomenon that the Bush administration insisted that more funding be devoted to the “chronically homeless,” according to Mangano.

AN UNHOLY MECCA

Even if Cambridge officials increase the availability of affordable housing and reach hard-to-serve populations, experts say the city will not eradicate homelessness within its borders, since it would only attract poor individuals from neighboring communities.

“To some degree the more successful [cities] are, they are victims of their own success in that other homeless people will come into the community and fill up the beds that they are able to empty,” says Eric Belsky, executive director of Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

Sitting outside the Tannery on Brattle Street with his dog, a German pointer named Penny, and his tuxedo cat Charlie, Ken O’Brien, a 51 year-old homeless Cambridge resident, agrees with Belsky’s assessment.

“You can’t end homelessness in one city because all you do is create a vacuum,” O’Brien says as he garners a steady stream of spare change from passers-by.

Known for its liberal politics and its liberal spenders, Harvard Square has emerged as a mecca for panhandlers.

“If you’re homeless in Boston...you have to be kind of daffy not to schlep to Cambridge to see if you can get some undergrads to give you money,” says Christopher S. Jencks ’58, Wiener professor of social policy at the Kennedy School of Government and author of the 1994 book “The Homeless.”

O’Brien says that close to Christmas, his daily take can reach nearly $100, although he adds that a panhandling income is highly variable—and some homeless individuals reel in just a few dollars a day.

Jencks, who is also a Crimson editor, says that by some estimates, as many as half of panhandlers are not actually homeless.

“If we housed every person who was an alcoholic or had a drug problem or wasn’t employable,” Jencks speculates, “what would they do during the day?”

HITTING THE SHOWERS

When asked if Cambridge can end homelessness within a decade, Belsky—a member of the city committee that produced the report—replies, “I think the answer is no.”