"Homeless by choice" is a long disproven myth. There are exceptions, of course, but often young people experiencing homelessness are on the streets because they were explicitly forced out of their homes by their guardians or were forced out because of sexual abuse.

From an article in Hoodline, quoting Mary Howe, founder of the Homeless Youth Alliance,

> [San Francisco's Haight Street] is an international destination for youth who come seeking refuge from abusive families, alienating foster care and group home situations, and juvenile justice system involvement. These homeless young people encounter constant threats to both their physical and mental health while on the streets.

https://hoodline.com/2015/03/getting-to-know-haight-street-k...

OP was asking why you see so many of them in SF compared to other places. Obviously there's a reason they chose that lifestyle but they still chose it. These kids are traveling from across the world to be part of it.

Yeah, they're often referred to as "crust punks" or "crusties" (and I think that's the name they use for themselves). Plenty of articles about them- absolutely homeless by choice, and migrate up/ down the East Coast (often by hopping freight rail) seasonally https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2018/07/27/summer-brings-wave-o...

They are also a huge drag on resources designated for homelessness.

Yeah- I have a ton of sympathy for folks driven in to homelessness by economic hardship, or mental illness, or even addiction, but the crust punks are INCREDIBLY frustrating for a number of reasons (the one you mention being a big one)

A crust punk once told me "Why bother when I could work full time in a city that's worth living in to be almost this homeless."

They are homeless, in my experience with them.

That shouldn’t be considered homeless then. I thought homeless meant you have no permanent place to live. Not by choice, but you just don’t.

Why is it such a simple dichotomy? Most people have to make large efforts to maintain a legal shelter and it's as easy as a medical emergency to slip from the tenuous position of not being homeless.

Are you saying the person with the medical emergency who becomes homeless was always homeless? Otherwise perhaps I didn’t understand your reply.

Regardless you’re right it’s not a simple dichotomy. Similar to how if you’re living in a new Airstream, chances are you aren’t the same sort of homeless as someone in a runned down camper with little cash flow or savings.

Agreed. There is one more interesting fact about this subculture. Some of those "homeless" people do actually have their own places that they don't want to live in. They rent out and live on the street by choice.

I can’t imagine anyone choosing to be exposed to that level of risk of disease, violence, weather and conflict with the authorities, at least not in a big city.