I've mentioned on here before, but I graduated on my 16th birthday. My present from my mom was to be kicked out so she could rent my room to someone (which she got from section 8 based on both me and my brother living there (my brother had been in foster care for years by then).
Anyway I was...a bit traumatized....at the time, and due to living briefly with my aunt and uncle while my mom was in a mental institution, then being kicked out because my brother broke things, I didn't trust taking anything from other people. I never used a shelter or anything like that.
I lived on rooftops for a year till I turned 17 and could join the Air Force. I barely interacted with anyone at all. I read books, played nintendo at the kiosks at the mall, stayed up all night in dunkin donuts to read etc. I rented a storage locker for $50 a month to keep my clothes in etc. I used pools to swim/bath in and public restrooms.
It would have been very easy for me to keep that up, but my uncle (different one) got married and I forced myself to go to the wedding, which started me interacting with people again (even though the other uncle called me "roof boy" there in front of everyone which was not fun...he was a serious jerk back then).
Point is, once you get into that life, it can be REALLY hard to get out, even if your still young with tons of energy and many things in life to look forward to etc.
I can't even image being homeless after the age of 30 or 40.....and by my age or older, you probably just die eventually.
There are solutions that could work for everyone, and a positive solution that improves the homeless populations standard of living seems like a WAY better idea then just saying what they are doing is illegal and shooing them off.
This country shouldn't just be better than that, but it is criminal in my opinion that a land with so many resources treats it's citizens this way. We don't have to go full communism, or even socialism, but we should have a baseline of support for every citizen. Motivation to work and be productive can come in many other forms other than basic needs for survival, and that would drastically reduce our crime rates, number of people incarcerated, suicide rates etc.
How we just ignore these problems and live our lives like nobody is suffering, I honestly don't understand, but it seems to be an ability human beings have had throughout history.