>But people who purposefully choose to stay homeless when there are available alternatives?

One day you ought to ask a homeless person (or actually look it up) WHY they don't go to a shelter.
It wouldn't possibly cross your mind that there might be a reason now, would you?
https://www.thecity.nyc/2021/4/5/22366758/new-yorkers-choose-streets-over-homeless-shelters

The other reason they MIGHT be homeless is (who woulda thunk) the enormous wage/wealth disparity, where wages have stagnated for 15 years while housing/living costs have multiplied by at least a factor of 4 over the past 20 years, and yet all that gets built is more and more luxury housing because guess what, there's no profit for developers in building 'affordable' housing.

Otherwise known as 'late-stage capitalism.'

It's completely tone-deaf and sanctimonious of you and anyone else to pass judgement on homeless, or tell them what they should do, or suggest laws be passed to criminalize people simply for being poor.
I find it comical no one is suggesting passing any legislation to increase funding for homeless services and looking for solutions like increasing taxing on developers, who are making end-runs around zoning laws to build more and more unnecessary luxury skyscrapers while getting BILLIONS in city and state subsidies, i/e free money, while letting the homeless forever twist in the wind.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/31/nyregion/nyc-tax-credit-housing-crisis.html