Being unhoused is not a crime. Being poor is not a crime. Being Black, Brown, or Indigenous is not a crime. It’s cheaper to uplift people who need help than to criminalize their struggle.
It is cheaper, but the ruling class don’t really care about costs. Money is just another system they control. The US is coercive and oppressive in order to maintain the ruling class’s monopoly on economic & political control & it will stay oppressive to maintain that control.