It’s the lower downtown area. To get away, just pick the street with the highest incline, go up and do that one or two more times. The homeless don’t go upward.
That said, at the lower parts, it’s astonishingly bad.
Go to any town in America and you’ll always find the poshest, ritziest mansions on top of the hills. Or down on the lake front.
It’s a good point that the bums don’t climb hills. They probably don’t have the strength or stamina.
Just exit Powell Street BART ot Civic Center BART and get an eyeful.