If you cant offer something better than jail why stay out of jail?
Newsom tried this while he was mayor. His conclusion was that for every person they put in housing, two new people showed up on the street.
Another issue was that most people they put into “temporary” supportive housing never moved out. A significant portion of SF’s budget goes towards paying for the housing of formerly homeless people. The city won’t put them out on the street, so why would they ever leave?
to me their sentence reads more like if the shelter is worse than prison, might as well do something to get into prison.