[mercutio2]

Most countries, and for that matter most urban areas in the US, routinely force the homeless off the streets pretty systematically.

California (and especially the Bay Area) get a lot of criticism for their homelessness not because SF is especially cruel to the homelessness, but because in the Bay Area it’s not generally considered acceptable to sweep the homeless out of town.

For instance, New York City (at least in Manhattan) was aggressive for many decades about rounding up the homeless and forcing them out of town.

This doesn’t mean the Bay Area is doing a good job with homelessness, the root of US urban homelessness does genuinely seem to be a combination of missing middle housing and a shortage of affordable and accessible mental/physical health care.

But the mere presence of visible homelessness is more about (direct) police tolerance, and (indirect) municipal political tolerance for visible homelessness.