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It's more a west coast thing. I grew up in Toronto and I can tell you the same thing shocked me about moving to Vancouver. Crackheads/street people don't like
by run4yourlives 14y ago
It's more a west coast thing. I grew up in Toronto and I can tell you the same thing shocked me about moving to Vancouver.
Crackheads/street people don't like to freeze, so they move to the warmth is. I'd imagine this is as true in the US as it is in Canada.
- JabavuAdams 14y agoGood point! I'd heard about this, but didn't realize the significance. So my dream of becoming a homeless programmer in Hawaii is still alive!
- kafkaesque 14y agoThis is anecdotal, so I guess you can take it with a grain of salt. But as someone from Vancouver who has visited SF quite a bit, SF always seemed to have more homelessness (it does have a warmer climate than Van) and more parts that smelled really bad. I might be desensitised to it already, though. Also, throughout my time living in Vancouver, I've never witnessed a robbery/theft/crime, whereas visiting SF last month I witnessed a random theft from a homeless at a Walgreens and they were really abusive towards him. What I'm saying is, it still feels like a different country with a different culture, instead of it only being a west coast thing.
- run4yourlives 14y agoI lived downtown in Vancouver for 5 years - I think I had my car broken into about 200 times, no exaggeration. It got so bad I just left the damn thing open. Everything in the US is basically X 10, so you have to allow for that in the similarities.
- kafkaesque 14y agoWow. That's awful. Sorry to hear. I only know a few people with cars in Vancouver, and none ever had their cars broken into except one who lived on the Drive. Now, I know a bunch of people who own bicycles. Vancouver is notorious for their bicycle thieves!
- geebee 14y agoI tried that too, but then I discovered people will sleep in unlocked cars.
- absconditus 14y agoChicago has a huge homeless problem. http://www.chicagohomeless.org/faq-studies/ http://www.chicagohomeless.org/faq-studies/
- GiselleDarlene 14y agoThey must "hide" them well. I've lived in Chicago all of my life and there's no comparison to SF.
- brandnewlow 14y agoAgreed 100%. I lived on Division and Wells for 4 years and never saw homelessness like I see walking from our startup office in SF to visit our bank. That said, Chicago's true poor are cached away far south of the places where people who read Hacker News would likely live.
- absconditus 14y agoI live in Chicago and see them every single day. They are usually on buses and trains or at the stops and stations. I also see them digging through the trash in the alley behind my building.
- batiudrami 14y agoI visited Chicago and SF recently, and (at least down town) you're talking several orders of magnitude. Being in SF was really sad for me - sitting in a niceish cafe/restaurant and looking out the window to see a homeless person sifting through a bin. It's not at all what I'm used to. Chicago, on the other hand, is a beautiful city. I was only in the Loop/Greektown area, but it was super clean, full of really friendly people, and lovely art installations and park areas. It was a pity that I could only stomach the food for a few days.
- ry0ohki 14y agoIt's half warmth, half social services/laws. You see way more homeless people in Seattle and San Francisco then you'll see in Houston or Jacksonville. The social services and laws for homeless people are way more generous on the west coast.