This is how it works in Belarus, and number of bums in prisons is absolutely negligible, and number of bums in the streets is zero.
Maybe not a felony. That makes the situation worse. I've been promoting the idea that: if you are arrested or arraigned (not even convicted) and don't have a permanent address you are transported to an unincorporated part of the state. Making it a misdemeanor to participate (either side) in begging/pan-handling would also help.
If you aren't going to participate, you are de-facto opting out of the community benefits. If you want social services to function, make sure you are willing to give then a perm address. Following rules and being functional in society is what this whole waste of resources has been about.
Note: One side of my wife family are these kind of people who don't follow "the rules" paranoid that the govt is watching them while being subsidized by the govt. They are living in filth from Needles CA to trailers (water trailer + living trailer) out in a flat, dead, parcel of desert near Bullhead AZ. At least they have addresses.
Anyway, it’s $81k a year to imprison someone in CA.
That changed in the 1960’s. Liberals convinced themselves and those in power that it was virtuous to let addicts and the mentally ill waste their lives away on the street.
Because of COVID, I haven’t been to SF in two years, but on my last trip it had reached absurd levels of dysfunction. Try walking 1 block down Market St to the Mikkeller Bar and you’ll have to jump over 5 spots of human feces, swerve around 3 people snorting god knows what off the sidewalk, and avoid 12 urinating bums. Very progressive.