The majority of people on BP including myself are looking for ways to make money by investing in real estate and have no interest in finding ways to create affordable housing for the poor.That being said, If I wanted to do this I would do the following:Start a non profit organization which focuses on providing low income housing or eliminating homelessness some examples include: Center for Community Change, National Housing Trust, Enterprise Community Partners, National Low Income Housing Coalition, National Alliance to end Homelessness to name a few.I would then write up a proposal similar to a written grant proposal regarding how your non profit would like to bring affordable low income housing to Birmingham Alabama. 

Our mayor, John Suthers, also spoke and we are making some good strides in addressing homeless issues (city council just allocated an additional $500,000 to the Springs Rescue Mission and Salvation army), and they are actively working to increase our funding for fire fighters and police.

I’m just worried because behind the house is an decline to a walking path, in between the walking path and the house there are homeless staying and most likely druggies.

Some real life examples from people I know ...burning a garage down to the ground, in a multi-family one guy robbing the other tenants/building/handymen, one guy getting arrested cause he was kicking his girlfriend in the face in the common area of an apartment building, squatters, drugs, stealing copper and electrical first time the house is vacant, not paying rent, evictions, homeless people sleeping in the lobby, smearing poop all over the house when they got evicted, flea infestation, sneaking bad aggressive dogs in...could go on but you get the picture.

Policy wise there are few states as accommodating of the homeless as Ca.Why would a homeless person choose to live elsewhere? 

Hey all, my wife and I will be looking at buying our first home less than a year from now.

I've been very broke to the point of near homelessness, and I've had a good chunk of change in the bank. 

The city of Portland spends around 200k per unit to provide low cost housing for the homeless and those on the edge of homelessness.

The properties are often broken into and used by squatters/drug abusers/homeless. 

So unless someone steps in (such as myself,) they will lose the equity AND be homeless.