How sketchy and pervasive is your city's visible transient/drug addict situation?

[destroycreate]

I was taking an uber from West Hollywood to DTLA's Union Station the other day, because I had to take the train down to San Diego. In that 35min uber ride, it hit me that I probably didn't go more than a few blocks at a time during the whole drive without seeing multiple homeless people, or someone walking around deranged, barefoot, and in some areas, sidewalk tents. It's staggering how omniprescent this homeless and addict situation is here. I've always lived in West Coast cities, and there was a time you'd see an occasional panhandler at an intersection, here and there, but nothing like this. The drugs out there now are just so much more hardcore and permanently brain altering than they were 15-20 years ago. As a result, you just never know anymore if they will lash out in someway.

When I got to Union Station, there were tons of security ambassadors which was nice, but the bathrooms were full of transients. Lots of mentally unwell people stumbling around down the corridors as well.

What's going on here on the west coast, particularly SoCal, really has surpassed epic crisis proportions. Even downtown San Diego near the Gaslamp and East Village has gotten much, much worse than pre 2020. It's hard to watch. If you're someone who really enjoys urban living and walkability, it definitely affects the quality of life (please spare me WeLcOmE tO cItY lIvInG, bRaH).

I'm curious to hear how is the situation is in other cities.