With the exception of a very small sub group of people with serious mental issues, it's not a hard problem.
Most of it has been solved already. It's just a matter of having the will to do it. That will is absent.
Most developers in SF laugh at the amount of money their European counterparts get paid after taxes. The don't consider not having to step over homeless people a "benefit". That attitude is your problem right there.
> The don't consider not having to step over homeless people a "benefit".
My daughter really tries to stop us from visiting San Francisco, because there is nothing that she can do to help the homeless. So even though I like the city, I don't get to make much use of it (plus, on an not-unrelated note, the city is child unfriendly).
Making matters even more surreal, the Willows Market in Menlo Park now sells caviar at the checkout counter, nestled amongst the chocolate and other things targeted for impulse buys.
I'm quite amazed how nasty living environments rich people can bear. If I were to bet I'd swore that rich would do something about the poor before it gets anywhere near as bad as in US. But then again there's India. So I stand corrected.
I don't know if its hard or not, but the difficulty to monetary reward is certainly extremely unfavorable, and that is a pretty big governing factor in where most startups dedicate their efforts.
Most of it has been solved already. It's just a matter of having the will to do it. That will is absent.
Most developers in SF laugh at the amount of money their European counterparts get paid after taxes. The don't consider not having to step over homeless people a "benefit". That attitude is your problem right there.