A Bad Homeless Rx

City Councilman Stephen Levin’s outrage is misplaced. The Brooklyn Democrat wants the city to devote much more affordable housing to the homeless — which buys into the false idea that the lack of a home is the cause, rather than the result, of these unfortunates’ problems.

Levin, who chairs the council’s General Welfare Committee, doesn’t like the latest numbers from Department of Housing Preservation Commissioner Maria Torres-Springer: Just 2,000 units have gone to the homeless since 2014. Even with 4,500 more in the pipeline, it’s still just 8 percent of new “affordable” housing.

If the city doesn’t boost that to 15 percent, Levin warns, “We are going to have 60,000 people in the shelters perpetually.” His prescription is wrong — and so is his diagnosis.

In fact, making shelters into a gateway to free or greatly subsidized housing is a guarantee that ever more people will claim homelessness. At the same time, this “solution” fails to provide the help that most homeless truly need — in overcoming mental illness, addiction and other challenges.

Yes, some homeless are simply down on their luck. But pretending that this is the only thing that puts people out on the streets is denial.

It’s bad enough that the city is obliged to fulfill a supposed right to shelter for all comers: Pretending anyone has a right to a home they can’t afford is just crazy.