Some of what you saw is seasonal. May is nearer to tourist season and those areas are some of the prime spots. This article is kind of annoying in how it impli

Some of what you saw is seasonal. May is nearer to tourist season and those areas are some of the prime spots. This article is kind of annoying in how it implies large jumps (50 sandwiches to 500, "59 percent of those requests came from families", 62% of 136 on the waiting list are new, etc) but they don't actually say what the homeless rate is and how it has changed. In 2002 there were 8,600 homeless. By 2005 it had dropped to 6,300. So let's say it's really bad and there are 9,000 homeless people now. That feels like a lot in a city of 700K.