They don’t seem to be safe anywhere. The shelters and the hotels have little security for them, and the domestic violence centers rarely want to take a homeless woman.

One night in 2002, Carla Crandall was asleep under the freeway overpass near Eighth Street. She was jolted awake by a man sexually assaulting her.

"A person I didn't even know," she said. "That's how I woke up."

Today, Crandall is 32 years old. She still looks like the San Jose State journalism student she was 14 years ago. She has a middle-class background, an impressive vocabulary, and an interest in writing.

She also has an addiction to heroin.

Twelve years ago, still a fresh-faced kid out of San Jose, Crandall landed on the streets of San Francisco to become a member of the worst possible demographic - homeless, addicted and a woman. It's one thing to have no place to sleep or eat, but it is twice as tough for homeless women. In a crude, violent world, they are outnumbered, harassed and victimized by lawless, remorseless men. And worst of all, there are extremely few safe places for them to go, writes C.W. Nevius in San Francisco Chronicle.

For 17 years, Carolyn Ritchie worked as a social worker at the Tom Waddell Clinic, concentrating on helping homeless women. What she saw broke her heart. Then it made her mad. And now that she's retired, she feels she has to speak out.