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From self reported surveys based on basically nothing. I don’t believe it. It also doesn’t say in what way they were living here and for how long. When you talk to homeless people in San Francisco, a lot of them traveled here from out of town.

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I'm suspicious too. I mean, if I became homeless, I'd head for California or the Oregon coast.

But about San Francisco, "out of town" could mean elsewhere in California.

If you’re homeless then moving isn’t easy, unless you really like to walk or can scrounge money for a bus or two. Then you’re in a new place you’ve never been, which means any of the tricks and connections you had have to be rebuilt from scratch. The stakes are pretty high when you’re living from day to day, and a change of weather is probably only worth it if you’re in a very cold place to begin with.

Good points. Hopping trains and hitchhiking don't work so well these days. But buses don't cost too much. Also, I suspect that many homeless have smartphones. And that there are social-media networks for sharing "tricks and connections".

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