I'm not sure I buy the whole "homeless person crimes" angle. I've lived here for about four and a half years, in a real sketchy part of the city (SoMa, south of

I'm not sure I buy the whole "homeless person crimes" angle. I've lived here for about four and a half years, in a real sketchy part of the city (SoMa, south of mid-market) and I've never had a problem with homeless people. Yes they sleep in doorways or in tents on the sidewalk, and yes you see people shooting up without trying to hide it. Sometimes they yell at night when I'm trying to sleep and it's annoying. But I have a real hard time making the mental leap from "these people are an eyesore" to "I think we should force these people to leave." They're just living their lives, trying to make it day to day. They're people. I pass the same homeless people on the way to work and back every day. They're as much a part of the community as I am. The crime angle seems transparently like dog whistling for people who are really concerned with property values, or for people who turn up their nose at the powerless and wish they'd go be someone else's problem. A few decades ago "crime" and "safety" were euphemisms deployed against urban youth who made middle-class white people nervous. It's depressing to see another generation of the same prejudice, now applied to a different marginalized group.