The greater "crime in sf" conversation is ultimately about establishing that the misery in front of you is not your concern. We did this so we could feel justified in ignoring homelessness, but it will also be used to ignore you, if you're dying in the street.
I'm not convinced it's so nefarious. When the problem is this big, individuals eventually feel unable to help; not to mention that the mental health aspect causes people to (rightfully?) fear erratic/dangerous behavior. West Coast cities are putting massive amounts of money into the problem, but the problem is so much bigger than they can reasonably handle when people are able to move from other locales to cities with more services. It's a national problem and we're collectively blaming SF/LA/Seattle/Portland for not solving it.