No argument there. In our old house the topsoil was awful.
One problem is all the homeowners associations that would put a lien on your house if they saw a tomato plant in the front yard. Some even in the backyard as well.
In a SHTF scenario they might change their minds. The problems then become complete lack of vegetable gardening know how and no seeds or plants available just then.
Biggest problem is probably not 1 in 100 people in those neighborhoods have any clue about growing veggies. And it’s generationally removed at this point too. That area has been relatively wealthy long enough that even their grandparents likely didn’t grow veggies. There are exceptions.
No Homowner’s Association here. I live in a rural area on 12 acres. I can grow my veggies anyplace I want to. I’ve grown them in pots on the front porch and in my front flower beds. I have a fenced plot in the front (formerly) pasture where I grow most of them.
I was a child during WWII when Victory Gardens were encouraged. But even before that, people had huge veggie gardens in their front yards. True that most of those who indulged in that practice were first generation Americans from Italy, or Greece, or Armenia; but they were always generous with their produce. They always offered a tomato, or a squash to passersby.
And in California, everybody had an orange, a grapefruit, or a walnut tree and a grapevine on the fence. It came as a shock to me after I married and moved to the mid-west thatyou actually had to pay for those fruits and nuts at the super market!