00:00San Francisco is known to be the tech hub of the world.
00:10It houses some of the most iconic places like the Golden Gate Bridge, Palace of Fine Arts
00:18and its skyscraping buildings.
00:22And every year, international students come to the city for higher studies.
00:28According to SF State's Office of International Program, 1,035 students enroll at this campus
00:36for the spring of 2023.
00:39While they enjoy their studies and most things about the city excite them, many encounter
00:46an issue they weren't expecting.
00:50I saw SF in videos, YouTube, Instagram, and it was quite different than what I imagined.
01:00And when I came here, I had no clue homelessness was this critical, so it was quite a surprise
01:07for me.
01:08In terms of homelessness in San Francisco, it's very unprecedented and unique simply
01:12because San Francisco is known for having the most billionaires in the world in one
01:21city and still has this prominent situation with homelessness.
01:27Many Americans don't like to talk about the fear that develops around a homeless resident
01:33simply because they don't want to sound insensitive or rude.
01:39Experts say if you're afraid, bringing it into the open is actually a good thing.
01:46I think if people are afraid of what they're experiencing on the street, they should talk
01:51about it.
01:53Talk about it with people that understand and that know what's going on in the street
01:57because sometimes situations are dangerous.
02:00Homelessness is a multifaceted issue.
02:04It's not just one thing with one answer.
02:09Most people's homelessness looks different than the person next to them.
02:13So we have stereotypes.
02:16Sometimes those stereotypes are true.
02:18Sometimes they're not true.
02:19San Francisco has a number of different problems that are all associated with homelessness.
02:27So behavioral health, drug use, and people living on the streets.
02:32And they're not always homeless.
02:35So people using on the streets may be engaging with their community, but they may actually
02:39have a home.
02:41So what we see on the streets, there's a percentage of it that's actual people experiencing homelessness.
02:47And there's a percentage of it that is very much something else.
02:50While it may sound dehumanizing to homeless residents, there is fear present and many
02:56people can relate to it, especially international students.
03:00My first reaction was, I was just overwhelmed because, I don't know why, but I think they
03:10make the atmosphere of the city very overwhelmed and tense.
03:17Definitely feel scared and I had a lot of anxiety at the beginning because I don't know
03:22what they're going to do to me.
03:24And not all of them are attractive, but I'm pretty sure some of them are.
03:29I'm scared of homeless people, because I feel that their behavior is quite unpredictable.
03:36And when you are around them, you just feel that anything can happen.
03:41This is Delhi city barge station and I commute every day over here.
03:47This basically, from where I go to my university or anywhere else, and this is also the place
03:53where an incident took place, where I encountered a homeless person.
03:58I was waiting for my bus on the barge station and there was a group of homeless residents.
04:06One of them was severely under drugs influence and what happened is, he came up to me, he
04:13started slurring and he started sledging and he was basically commenting in a very racial
04:20way.
04:21He was very inappropriate in his way, he was very offensive.
04:27And I was pretty scared about that and I didn't know what to do at that point of time.
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