San Francisco resident since 2006 here. I love it here, but your observations are correct, the homelessness situation has gotten out of control. The homeless

San Francisco resident since 2006 here. I love it here, but your observations are correct, the homelessness situation has gotten out of control. The homeless population is largely 'contained' within the Tenderloin District[1] of downtown. By contained, I literally mean that you'll find cop cars parked at the corners and edge of that district (see map). This area contains a majority of the homeless population and the cops patrol it along the edges day and night in an effort to 'contain' crime and violence within that 10 block area. I used to volunteer at San Quentin to help non-violent offenders find jobs when they re-enter society. Almost all the ones that were getting paroled would end up in the Tenderloin. I was told that there are about 60 Liquor stored in that area. Add to that drugs, it's a recipe for re-offending and coming back to the Big House. The homelessness has been a problem even before the tech boom. The media and the non-techie residents like to blame the tech scene for it, cos it's a nice big juicy target. The situation has been exacerbated by Nevada dumping 500-ish mentally ill patients into San Francisco.[2]. So you'll find a lot more homeless people who are also mentally ill, and acting it out in public. I recently had an incident where a mentally ill person claimed my motorcycle was his, and pulled a knife on me when I tried to leave. He even quoted some random VIN number. Had to call cops, prove that I was the owner, and then had him arrested. That said, it was the single incident in over 10 years, so I think I've generally been safe with the homeless population around me. YMMV. Because of the mentally ill homeless population, you may sometime find yourself in the middle of sidewalk with some nutty guy yelling on the street or generally acting crazy, and that un-nerves some people. Also, in the summer if temperatures go over 70 degrees ( somewhat rare), the whole downtown smells like a giant urinal, from the homeless people defecating on the streets, sometimes even in the public transport [ BART ] stations [3] Regarding 'solution being planned', I've found that the current Mayor(s) and Supervisors just kick the can down the road, leaving it for the next Mayor or Supervisors to deal with. They make new building and Condos designate a specific set of units as BMR (Below Market Rate) but even a BM 1 BR 600 Sq Ft or so costs over 300K, so not really affordable even to qualified working people. [1] Tederloin District Map: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tenderloin,+San+Francisco,+CA/@37.7839295,-122.4174298,16z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x8085809068ae37cb:0xb65a70d852b4620a!8m2!3d37.7846598!4d-122.4145058 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tenderloin,+San+Francisco,... [2] SF reaches $400K settlement proposal in Nevada patient-dumping case: http://www.sfexaminer.com/sf-reaches-400k-settlement-proposal-in-nevada-patient-dumping-case/ http://www.sfexaminer.com/sf-reaches-400k-settlement-proposa... [3] Human waste shuts down BART escalators https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Human-waste-shuts-down-BART-escalators-3735981.php https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Human-waste-shuts-dow...