I understand what you're saying, spaz, and for the most part I think people would forgive extreme behaviour in name of survival but I question whether that is ever necessary. I had a neighbour who had the attitude that everyone should give him things because he was poor. He was poor because he was a lazy idiot. Granted he collected welfare instead of stealing for a living, but saying you should take what you need because you have no money is a false dichotomy.
There are churches, soup kitchens, day work, begging, etc. All are a better options than stealing. I too found myself destitute for a short period of time. I wasn't homeless, but I had no money for food. What I found was a centre where you show up at 6:00 AM and wait for day labour. It was crappy work but they paid you half your day's wage (minimum wage of course) at the end of each day and saved the rest for a paycheque at the end of two weeks. I held my dignity and worked for my food. The crisis passed and I got back on my feet without selling my soul.
Stealing is almost always a choice where other options are either rejected or not explored. In fact, I would guess that most stealing isn't subsistance theft anyway. I believe drug dependancy drives most of it. It would be cheaper for us to just supply pharmaceutical drugs to the addicts until they're ready to get off them. But that's another subject.