The vast majority of this is ordinary theft, not desperation.

I've been acquainted in the past with many people who engaged in this type of crime. Perception is that it is relatively low-risk. It was mostly just a side hustle to pay for beer or drugs, people weren't doing it to put food on the table. There has been a strong underground market for stolen "scrap" metal for as long as I've been alive.

It isn't just copper or catalytic converters. Theft of agricultural irrigation piping is sporadically fashionable, for example.