I've worked with hundreds of homeless people, usually trying to help them before the cops sweep their camp, or keeping their car rolling so they can keep living in it.

There was a ubiquitous set of conditions:

• can't afford housing even though they had a job.
• lost identifying documents, usually in a sweep, and working on replacing them. You can't get work without these.
• no reliable postal address
• no support network

I've never met anyone who wanted to be living on the street.

I'm not talking about crust punks train hopping. I'm talking about the people who missed a day of work for whatever reason and couldn't make rent one month. Now they're in a tent near available services because the shelter kicked them out after the max stay of a week.

Being a therapist gives you no expertise here and it seems to me that a therapist who sees punishment as a viable means for behavioral change is kind of shit at their job.