Homeless in Jail?

The other day I received a phone call from Shelton.

He called to tell me that Ed had been put in jail for trespassing.

It turns out, this was his second time for being charged for trespassing.

My question is: Does that make sense?

Here is a guy who is sleeping in the woods with no where to go. He has done no harm to anyone.

Most people don't even know where he is sleeping.

I read an article that suggests the local area government and services spend at least $40,000 a year on a homeless individual.

The article also suggests that the cost might be a lot more than that.

The costs associated with homelessness are medical expense, incarceration and such.

If more money was spent on housing then these cost would be cut in half.

I have seen houses being bought for as little as $25,000 and then fixed up to be lived in.

There are no easy answers. There are always two sides to every story.

I am looking at it from a numbers perspective and them numbers don't make sense to me.

The city could save a whole lot of money, if they would just spend it in the right places.

It makes me wonder why the city is building a much larger jail.

As one person shared with me "they have to show they need it".

Therefor does it make sense to put the homeless in jail?