That might come as welcome news to proponents of the city’s Measure S and some business owners along Telegraph Avenue, where Mr. Escobar and his ilk spend most days hunkered down on the sidewalk with their belongings, pets and cardboard signs.

“Some people don’t come to Telegraph or downtown to shop or eat because they are intimidated,” said John Caner, chief executive of the Downtown Berkeley Association, a group representing commercial property owners.

Some small-business owners say they hope the measure will curb what they describe as roving bands of nomadic youths, many of whom openly use and deal drugs, keep pit bulls, panhandle and scare off potential customers.

Several small businesses, including a coffee shop and a gelato store here, fault the homeless crowd for a recent 30 percent drop in business.

But opponents of Measure S say such blame is misguided. “When economic times are hard there is a tendency to scapegoat,” said Bob Offer-Westort, an organizer of the groups opposing the measure, which include dozens of clergy members and the student government at the University of California, Berkeley.

On any given night in the United States, there are an estimated 650,000 people like Mr. Escobar without an indoor place to sleep. At last count, Berkeley had some 680 homeless people, far exceeding the 135 beds available year-round in local emergency shelters. Many cities are similarly stretched, unable to provide services to the growing number of people seeking help. Last year, 86 percent of the cities surveyed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors reported an increase in requests for emergency food assistance. City officials here say they already spend $2.8 million annually on services for the needy.