Yes, my experience is the same. The major metro downtown library has been a homeless shelter for years, even in the before-times. There is a decently-sized gras

Yes, my experience is the same. The major metro downtown library has been a homeless shelter for years, even in the before-times. There is a decently-sized grass-lawn park right next to it, and every morning in the library, there is a huge row of bags and shopping carts and all sorts of personal junk belonging to people who schlep it in and out every day to escape the elements. My local municipal library has gone back and forth. It is on land which is technically Parks & Rec jurisdiction, and so it's patrolled by uniformed Park Rangers. There are strict rules about bathroom use and there is technically no sleeping allowed inside the library. During the lockdowns, of course, they were able to keep out the riffraff by mandating masks and doing curbside, online-facilitated book pickups. But the whole neighborhood by the library is a mass of homeless hangout, especially the bus stops right nearby, and let me tell you, it's downright scary when bus stops are "owned" and squatted by a group of creeps who are drunk and/or on drugs and/or bent on violence. There is literally nowhere safe to sit in the shade and wait for an actual bus, because nobody at the stop intends to get on the bus at all. And, when you do board a bus, especially the free-fare ones, it's clogged with the same types of weirdos going to/from their daytime hangouts. Personally for me, when I was homeless, libraries were a life saver, and I definitely hung out at libraries, which kept me (1) out of trouble, (2) safe from the weather, (3) connected to friends and family, and (4) occupied and not bored, and (5) no need to spend money. Of course, I was extremely careful about obeying all rules and regulations and not being caught out as homeless. Sleeping was mostly OK, and I didn't need to shower, shave, or brush teeth in the bathrooms, so that also helped.