What progressives don't get is that although criminalizing this sounds unethical, it's probably the only way to prevent that behavior in the first place. Ironically, what looks compassionate is actually much more cruel and harmful to society because it makes the problem worse by encouraging people to consider it as an option.

Living outside should only be the extreme last option for people, but right now it's one of the top options because there is nothing stopping them from trying it out. You save money on rent, get free money from gov., sleep outside on good weather (at least in LA), access to a lot of drugs and sex, and police can't do shit about it. If instead this was enforced properly, it would discourage people from considering it an option, and only the "real" homeless people would be seen outside, which I suspect is a fraction of what we see right now.