They shit on the street because no one is letting them use any bathrooms. They are “starting fires” because it gets cold in L.A. at night.
Most homeless people in L.A. are not drug addicts or thieves. They’re just down on their luck in one of the most expensive cities in the country. Many of them even have jobs. But when rent is $2000 a month for a shithole that’s a 3-hour drive from their job, what are they supposed to do?
So you tell us: where are they supposed to go? How are they even supposed to get there?
Also, re the drug part- if you had to live in the conditions they lived in, you’d probably be tempted to take the cheap escape that intoxication offered too.