OP was discussing poverty rather than homelessness; having cycled through a number of bay area cities which have a much less favorable economic situation than d

OP was discussing poverty rather than homelessness; having cycled through a number of bay area cities which have a much less favorable economic situation than downtown SF/Oakland/Berkeley/San Jose/MTV/Palo Alto/etc... yes, there are serious problems with poverty in California. Most commentors here have some kind of conceptual idea about what poverty is like, or see West Oakland town houses sometimes from BART, or have ideas shaped by homelessness in SF and occasional conversations with colleagues and friends - the reality is that there's a whole ton more people out there living on much less, and it's a different world entirely, especially when you see it in person. In some ways it's probably less dangerous than people would imagine, but it's also shocking and nearly third world.