I helped some of ours when I lived downtown in San Luis Obispo, Ca and they were pretty respectful but yes.. most are mentally ill and/or alcoholics and cannot go to shelters and drink. Bc we have great weather we also have "urban campers" that are healthy and choose not to pay rent.

On recycle day I would put the $ recyclables in a bag next to the bins and add a baggie of socks and dollar store hygiene items bc they came every week no matter what. They move on quickly and quietly if they peek and see nothing bc they know someone already hit that bin. I also wanted to reduce their indignity of digging. Honestly I had it down to a science.

They are not going away and food trucks, mobile showers are the way to go in my opinion (if you don't want them gathered en masse). Part of the problem is that people want to give and can't do it alone but they want all of the credit so they won't just get together.