It offers an objection to an additional suggestion mentioned in the argument. It is the claim that the argument as a whole is designed to sustain. It both sustains the argument in the paragraph while supporting the opposing argument. It is the fact pattern on which the argument is based.
Non-profit organizations have invested a great deal of money to build shelters for homeless people in large cities. However, not even one city has been able to build enough shelters for their homeless populations, and people are becoming homeless faster than shelters are being built. More of the money invested by non-profit organizations should be used in the future to prevent people from becoming homeless. Because preventing homelessness is more efficient than building shelters for homeless people, it is imprudent that the amount of money set aside for prevention of homelessness is less than the amount spent to build just one shelter.
The suggestion about how the non-profit organizations' money should be used in the future plays which of the following roles in the argument?