Only my opinion, but it’s all about the opiates. The few European cities that I know of that have had a similar scale homeless situation also had a similar situ

Only my opinion, but it’s all about the opiates. The few European cities that I know of that have had a similar scale homeless situation also had a similar situation re: healthcare and pharmaceutical industry - they’re all in Switzerland. The Swiss “solved” the issue by cracking down on pain killer issuance (like we did in the US) but also by sealing their borders off to drug smuggling to a degree that is impossible in the US. Zurich ~10 years ago looked a lot more like San Francisco than you’d think. As long as the scary part of any city is where you go to buy, use, and not be arrested for using, that’s where the scary part of the city will be - it’s a self sustaining sadness loop. As far as I know there is no fix besides removing access to the drugs, and for better or worse, that’s not possible in the US. The only “solution” is police crackdowns, which doesn’t cure addiction. The real “freedom is slavery” argument isn’t too many choices in the grocery store: it’s the ability to choose heroin a couple times when you’re sad and stupid and young.