I've lived in the area for twenty five plus years and have known local social workers and city employees. I also have friends who are effectively homeless (livi

I've lived in the area for twenty five plus years and have known local social workers and city employees. I also have friends who are effectively homeless (living in RV's) having grown up in silicon valley and been evicted from family rental homes and can't afford massively increased rents. There's a huge number of people who wind up in San Francisco for all sorts of reasons and the civic reputation for being less harsh on homeless plus relatively mild weather makes it a place people wind up staying in. There's always been flop houses in the tenderloin and people on the streets but the disparity between the wealthy and the poor is very striking now. The opioid crisis is a big thing in SF but the levers are unaffordable rents, no care for the insane (who often self medicate with street drugs), an attractive place with lots of dumpster diving lifestyles behind classy restaurants and a general romanticism that dates back to the beats and hippies. There are huge numbers of people living in their cars and couch surfing who are less visible than the unwashed zombie insane that you see at most downtown intersections and passed out on sidewalks but this is in essence a have and have not crisis