I haven’t heard a single person who left SF that said they would go back. Every documentary I watch about it makes it look like a lawless hellhole. And that government… just an overall disaster of a city.
Then you're not talking to enough people and watching too much mainstream media, which gets off on the lawless hellhole angle because it gets them views and thus ad dollars.
A lot of people are just ridiculously scared of homeless, which really fuels the media narrative. I see it in San Diego - the way the media talks about it, the way the city doesn't spend money allocated for such issues, stand up comedians disparaging them, acquaintances afraid of people on the street just trying to survive, banning people from sleeping in their cars, etc.
There are plenty of crazy homed people. There are plenty of homed people committing crimes. Most people who are homeless are totally normal people who hit a bad patch, and it's very difficult to get back on your feet when no one will give you a job.
I have been threatened and people I know have been assaulted by unhomed people. I have never been threatened and nobody I know has been assaulted by homed people. So no, they aren't "ridiculously" scared of homeless, it's a reasonable response to the on-the-ground truth.
I'm not saying that it doesn't happen. But the reality is, to make one random comparison to a bigger threat, that 597 people have died in 2023 from mass shootings [0] and I can't even find any statistics on the number of people killed by homeless in 2023. When I tried various search queries, all I find is articles about the number of homeless dying and things like serial killers who target homeless in LA.
Yes, some homeless are dangerous. But the simple truth is that there are still way more crazy homed people who are dangerous. Yes, that is obviously partly because there are way more people who are homed than homeless. That is part of my point - the homeless issue is magnified by fear. I'm not saying it's made up.
Well, now you've heard of one: I left SF in 2019 and moved back in 2021. Do not regret it. If I have to leave in the future it will be with great sadness.
It is not a lawless hellhole. There is a lot of property crime, but it's not because we don't have enough cops. The weather is very good. Excellent restaurants.
