No, We have a big problem with drugs that is true, but I would not call it a "wasteland"
AS far a homelessness, it is a problem like it is everywhere but I have never seen anything like what is seen in CA in my life. I would call that a wasteland of homelessness.
We have tons and charities, and lower cost of living making our homelessness problem generally transitory, meaning a person is homeless in crisis which is largely corrected by community out reach in a few months. Long Term homelessness is much less of a problem here
Most on HN cannot imagine just how ignorant they are. It borders on the Marie Antoinette quote 'let them eat cake' (I'm aware its apocryphal).
You're right that the problem exists everywhere, it's just they don't put themselves into positions to see many homeless, but read stories of the poor and homeless in the rural area and make the mistake of thinking they have some grasp.
I sometimes think about coming up with a guessing game where you put up a description of rural areas from HN and then a description of fallout and let people guess which is which.
To put it bluntly, the level of ignorance from city folks on this site is astounding. Many of them cannot fathom people with money who don't wear it on their sleeve.