"It's not really historians' job to judge the people of the past. They are supposed to tell the story of what happened as accurately as possible, and let the reader decide."

Well, officially that's their job, yes. But they are human, so privately they will have opinions.

"If the 160,000 homeless people were locked up in a snakepit like state hospital like they used to do, and forcibly lobotomized or turned into a medicated zombie like they used to do, would that be better? We wouldn't have to look at them anymore, right?"

But that's not the only alternative to leaving them on the street. For example, if somebody has drug addiction issues, it could be dealt with as a medical issue rather than a crime. And if people have mental health issues, giving them someone to talk to, and possibly medication that doesn't turn them into a zombie. And so many other options such as financial help, help with accomodation, etc. No need to lock them up out of sight and use barbaric outdated medical treatments of the past.