I live in SF and though I can back-up your experiences I do want to point out that tourists often get an above average exposure to homelessness in this city for

I live in SF and though I can back-up your experiences I do want to point out that tourists often get an above average exposure to homelessness in this city for the following reasons: 1) The tourist hotspots of Downtown and Civic Center have a disproportionate amount of homeless due to their proximity to homeless services in the Tenderloin as well as begging opportunities around large corporate conferences. This is in contrast to North Beach, the Outter Sunset, Golden Gate Park, and many other areas (I'm not saying there are NO homeless in the latter areas just that IMO it is an entirely different experience). I wish tourists would get outside the basic areas more, but that is largely SF's fault because without a car it can be difficult. 2) Tourists usually choose below average accommodations in terms of cost, which usually takes them directly to the Tenderloin. This makes sense because hotel costs in Downtown are insane and geared towards corporate travelers. 3) European tourists are much more capable of taking public transit and as such spend more time around major transit hubs (like Bart at Civic Center) which is known as one of the worst stations in the Bay Area. None of these points make what you experienced ok or acceptable. But it highlights IMO the most important issue that so many people are running around with only partial context and heavy biases towards the issues.