Decades ago, when I was doing some volunteering with the homeless (mostly via the HIV/AIDs vigil) in San Francisco, the City had a preview of what is happening with the homeless now.
So they made a bit deal about "cleaning things up" and without warning went into the city center with bulldozers, took everything away from everyone, and told everyone to "go to a shelter."
There was just one problem, as was explained on the evening news, there were no shelter beds already not in use and now there were hundreds if not a couple of thousand people with nowhere to go.
Where they went, was instead of congregating mostly in one place where there were some agreed-upon "basic rules" (like where the toilet bush was) and they moved to individual doorways, sidewalks, and parks all over the city.
Businesses were furious because suddenly they had lots of people sleeping in their doorways, on heating grates, and blocking the sidewalks.
Moral of the story: if you really want to move a massive group of homeless people, you need to set up a place to take them first - one that actually has at least water, food, and some crash space; preferably with at least shared toilets and shower blocks.
Back when I was aware of this population, there were "homeless hotels" all over most large cities (including San Francisco and Los Angeles) where a homeless person could rent a room for the night or a week with part of their SSD check or whatever, get a shower and sleep safely for a few nights.
A lot more people just lived in the hotels, they were not exactly homeless but they were not exactly great places to live either.
But they were better than what is there now which is pretty much NOTHING. All of those old buildings (that I am aware of) were either torn down or revamped as Yuppie Apartment complexes because land in these urban areas just got too expensive not to commercialize.
I've seen with my own eyes the homeless population in Seattle and plenty of photos of modern LA and this is much worse than a "hobo problem," this is a massive housing and public health problem.
There will always be some people who are extremely mentally ill or have other issues who want to sleep on the streets or who refuse to cooperate with even the most basic "rules" of a shared living area. But I don't think there have been masses of homeless people (from many different backgrounds) this large in the USA since the Great Depression when eventually the State and Federal Governments did have to build massive camps for a lot of them.
My Mother grew up living in national park cabins, closets, parking lots, and camps during this period as did our member Old As Dirt.
Note to the Los Angeles City Council, be ready to massively extend your jail or be ready to find a way to provide housing at least for the sane portion of the tent people, or be prepared to just have the situation get even worse. Judges waving fingers at the City (who loses in court) when people have no income and can't pay fines, will just be the start of the blowback.
