It used to be illegal to be homeless in the US as well, it was called vagrancy. There were various solutions depending on the cause. If you were homeless becau

It used to be illegal to be homeless in the US as well, it was called vagrancy. There were various solutions depending on the cause. If you were homeless because you didn't want to work, there was the workhouse. If you were homeless because you were insane, there was the asylum. If you were homeless because you were a drunk or a drug addict, there was jail. People complained that those were authoritarian policies. Judges ruled against vagrancy laws. Petty theft was de facto legalized. Judges made rulings that make it very hard to commit insane people to an asylum. People wanted drugs legalized. Now there are bums defecating on the street, people passed out drunk or on drugs, needles on the sidewalk, insane people ranting and committing assault, so much shoplifting that stores are closing. Things are that way in San Francisco because people there want them that way. It's not a bad place to live if you are rich, you can insulate yourself from all that. And if you just want to shoot up heroin and meth every day until you die, well you know where to go.