California is releasing felons from its prisons.  Their jails are overcrowded and people only serve a fraction of their sentences.  There is no minimum mandatory 15 day sentence in California like in Arizona.  Most of those will probably get a fine or zero days jail time.  Many of them will not even pay the fine even if convicted and the state will never enforce it.  

If convicted, you may face:

up to six (6) months in county jail, and/or
up to one thousand dollars ($1,000) in fines.26
Prostitution/solicitation is a "priorable" offense...which means that the punishment necessarily increases with each subsequent offense.  If you are convicted for your second prostitution or solicitation offense, the judge will sentence you to a minimum of forty-five (45) days in a county jail.

And if you are convicted of a third prostitution or solicitation offense, the judge must order a minimum of ninety (90) days in a county jail.

In addition to these penalties, if you committed the offense (1) while using a car, and (2) within 1,000 feet of a residence, the court may

suspend your driver's license for up to thirty (30) days, or
issue you a restricted license for up to six (6) months.
If the judge grants you a restricted license, it allows you to drive to and from work or school.  If driving is a necessary part of your employment, a restricted license also allows you to drive within the scope of your employment.

It is also important to note that, if you commit one of the above offenses in Los Angeles while in your car, the government may seize and forfeit your vehicle in addition to the above penalties. This is a form of California asset forfeiture.

How does the restricted license work for someone who lives in his car, though?

It's very hard to believe anything the media or LE says. This war on drugs has been proven very ineffective and is wearing it self out.  When it comes to trafficking, yes it's very sad and should be stopped. If they care that much about children they would keep pedophiles locked up.  The fact is LE focuses most of their attention on grown women ( who are there by choice) and men who are not exploiting anyone. These are the people who pay court fines & Attorneys.  

Just another money maker for the gov't.

The fines and court costs are minor compared to the huge costs for county attorney office, court etc.  The money is made by the man huge national "stop trafficking all women are victims" groups that get millions in donations (tax free since charitable organizations - I have previously posted info from their IRS 990 Forms.)  They spend huge amounts on the fake news using the rare case of real forced prostitution or minors and make it look like its common.  LE agencies get grant money to fund their raids probably 90%+ consenting adults.  

In Canada, they do find the real forced and underage cases since they use resources to go after legitimate victims not consenting adults. They follow the "harm reduction" model of the Supreme Court that ruled under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms workers have the right safety of the person by having in private consenting adult prostitution legal.  In the U.S. most arrests are "pretend victims" and their customers.

In the Phoenix Goddess Temple case of 38 wonderful women - all consenting. mostly middle aged adults, using Tantra and other spiritual based "healings"  - the case was in Court for just under 5 years, 3 judges and a six-month trial.  Probably cost the country $1million+ with all the hearings, almost all had the office of public defense attorneys.  After such a long time with felony arrests hanging over them and up to 40 years in prison (In "Donald Advisements") all except the leader took pleas with probation instead of prison.  The leader was quickly convicted by the jury on about 20 counts and is in prison.