this is "nightline." tonight, the tale of two cities. san francisco, the beautiful city by the bay. epicenter of the nation's wealthiest, but also the center of a homeless crisis, now 1 millionaire real estate developer offering shelter and support to one east bay couple. >> these are human beings. and they're not serial killers. plus, kim petris. the heartbreak pop artist skyrocketing up the charts with hits like "clarity." the singer opening up about her journey to stardom and her unapologyic truth.

>> yes, i'm transgender. but first, the "nightline" five.

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grow deeper and darker every day. but in california, a millionaire has built a bridge, and he's changing lives. here's abc's jim >> two minutes, about two minutes. >> reporter: for greg dunsten and marie mckinzie, the daily commute feels a lot different these days. >> we get the bus to go get something to eat. >> reporter: you see, after ten years of living on the street. >> that's it. >> reporter: they're finally going home. did you worry at all about leaving the street to go live in a house? >> no. i like to cook a lot. so i wanted a kitchen and a bed and a shower. >> reporter: and it is some home. a $4 million mansion in one of the bay area's most exclusive neighborhoods that they share with a generous owner, determined to commit a simple act of kindness. >> a homeless couple has a place

to live. >> he's hopopened his home. >> it's not going over too well with his neighbors. >> reporter: but the tale of humanity did not come without a bit of attention. >> police and fire. >> i'm a neighbor on hampton road, i just pulled in the driveway, and there's some kind of strange folk hanging around the house. i just wanted to notify you there's a woman sitting at lexford and hampton. she's smoking a cigarette and a pipe. >> reporter: once on the sidelines, just another homeless couple, they're now at the center of san francisco's homeless crisis, a symbol that something must be done. an insight into the huge disparity between the nation's haves and have-nots. the city by the bay is the wealthiest in the nation, more billionaires per capita than any other city in the country. its homeless population now at a

record high. about 8,000 living on the street and in their cars. >> you have people able to purchase multi-million dollar homes in cash, and then you have people who don't even have enough money to eat. >> reporter: otis taylor writes about the homeless for the san francisco chronicle. he met greg and marie and learned that neither fit a blanket stereotype we often presume. neither is an alcoholic or drug addict. neither is mentally ill. greg is blind in one eye. marie has a disease that makes standing and walking difficult, neither is bitter. >> they were still pleasant. they were still engaged with meeting people, and they still had love for each other through it all. that bond. >> reporter: maintaining what taylor calls a vibrancy of life that he wrote about in the paper. the paper this man reads. terry mcfwrath. he owns that big house in the hills above the bay. a real estate developer, a

divorced empty nester with nothing but space on his property and in his heart. >> the thing that struck me, i mean got me right away, was the love between frgreg and marie a how it was able to survive in probably one of the harshest environments on earth. >> reporter: he met with otis and the couple in a cafe. >> there was no thought, no judgment. it was just like this is done. i didn't vet them. i mean, these are human beings. they want to get in out of the wet weather. they want a roof over their head. >> we're so happy that we, that terry, that he was willing to take completely strangers like us. you don't find them, a person with a heart like his. >> reporter: terry mcgrath offered them the in-law unit in his house. his kids had grown-up.

relatives had lived there before, an intern had, too. so he wrote the piedmont police chief an e-mail. >> he let me know he was opening his home to some folks. >> reporter: so when the 911 calls started coming in, the chief had already counseled his officers. >> we want to get what is somebody doing that necessitates us getting involved. >> reporter: and if it had been white people in that house he would have responded the same way? >> yes, yes. >> piedmont is 74. >> announcer: white, 18% asian, less than 2% black. you have two black people sitting on the steps. you have homeowners looking out the window. that is unheard of. >> reporter: they didn't call the police on your other tenants. >> i got a call, 9:30 at night on my cell phone. couple minutes into it, i realized when she mentioned the word situation she was referencing marie and greg. and i said what situation? are they vandalizing cars?

are they burglarizing homes? i just said this is one of the most offensive conversations i've ever had. >> reporter: for terry, it was simple. despite the complaints of a few neighbors, it was his house. there was room. >> our natural tendency is to move away from that kind of pain. >> reporter: that's why we avert our eyes when we walk by. >> that's why we avert our eyes. that's why they become part of the background, part of the wallpaper. it's easy to move past it. >> we've become numb to the despair and plight of others who are obviously suffering. >> reporter: then there is the juxtaposition that is san francisco. twitter, here down below, pedestrians dance around caps, blue ones, that signify they were covering syringe needles. when you walk down the street, especially at the beginning of your term it bothered you, too. >> first of all, i was born and raised in san francisco. it always bothered me. >> reporter: mayor london breed

ran on a program to fix the problem, even proposing a new shelter, one that allows daytime stays and offers safer conditions and on-site programs to be built not out of sight but all around san francisco in every neighborhood. >> you can't be upset about homelessness, and then when i propose a real solution that's going to make a difference then you're upset about it. >> reporter: we don't want to see them on the streets, but at the same time we don't want them in our neighborhood. >> but people aren't just going to disappear because we don't want to see them. and that's why we need solutions. we can't just do what we've done in the past. and that is move people to the next community, to the next community, to the next community. >> she's my hero. i mean, here's a mayor, in the most liberal city, arguably, probably in the united states. she's in the honeymoon phase of the mayoral term, and she's getting shouted down, because she wants to build affordable

housing in the neighborhoods. it's unconscionable. they want it handled. but they don't want it handled in their neighborhoods. >> reporter: but as the mayor says, it's not going to go away because we don't want to see it. >> no. >> reporter: terry mcgrath brought homelessness a little closer, to his own home. he knows it's not a universal solution. but feels it might inspire others not to look away so much. and, on a personal level, although he knows the odds are against them, his hope is that greg and marie struggle somehow back to their feet, find jobs and get out on their own. let me ask a tough question. what if they've got to go back to the street again? >> they're like family. there's no way i'm going to let them go back on the street. but as most people who know me well know it's easy to start. it's hard to finish. and i'm never not going to finish.

>> reporter: for "nightline," i'm jim avila in san francisco. up next, the new pop sensation singing to the world her truth and her hits like "heart to break." ♪ ♪ baby it doesn't matter ♪ going to give you my heart to break ♪ or for vehicle accessories. and with fordpass, a tap can also get you 24/7 roadside assistance. and lock your vehicle. only fordpass puts all this in the palm of your hand. fordpass. built to keep you moving. red lobster's new weekday five days.s here: five deals. for fifteen dollars get a different deal every weekday til six pm like endless shrimp monday admiral's feast tuesday four course feast wednesday and more.

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♪ ♪ so much for the love ♪ hope to god ♪ hope to god ♪ kim petras is a new pop

sensation owning the global stage with her songs and image. now the inside look into her rise to fame as an artist and a trail blazer for the transgender community. here's paula ♪ >> reporter: music's new pop princess has a story to tell. and kim petras has an audience eager to listen. what is it that makes the kim petras touch so special? >> i think, i think i've studied pop music really, really hard my entire life. also, i'm always trying to do new things. i don't like repeating myself. >> reporter: she's reached heights of fame so far untouched by any other trans-jen desh in the artist in the industry.

you want your muse toic to spear itself. >> it's important to it me to be an artist first and to fight for transgender rights but not have that be everything that defines me. >> you give us the greatest songs and the greatest looks and also like a deep truth. nobody is what you are. >> she's so unapologetically herself, and i think it's really inspiring. >> reporter: her rise to the top might feel like a yoesh night success, but this music idol has been in the game for a decade now. ♪ i want someone else to buy'em ♪ >> reporter: just two years ago she blasted onto the charts with a new anthem from millennials called "i don't want it all." the song featured a cameo by paris hilton. the lyrics, something she described when i sat down with her in front of some of her

biggest fans part of the pride speaker series. you call this a sugar baby anthem. and you said it was heavily, heavily inspired by madonna's "material girl." >> this song is so bratty. it's like my bratty fantasy. it gets sparked by this visit to sephora. i just closed an amazing publishing deal, so my manager was like oh, get what everybody you want, i'll buy it. and i went all in. that's really what the cashier said, just closure eyes and swipe it, sweetie. and it was, that was when the song was born. >> reporter: her music is a fantasy-filled world. songs with glossy club beats, a temporary escape from life's cruel realities. >> growing up i could never go to the concerts i wanted to go to because i didn't have enough

money. and i remember saving up for gaga's born this way ball. and screaming out all my worries were gone. that's what pop music is supposed to do. that's my goal in life. >> reporter: her goal fulfilled in hit after hit. ♪ her singles like "heart to break." to "faded." all of it unapologetically pop. >> i don't believe in guilty pleasure. >> reporter: the singer first made headlines as being one of the first to undergo the transition. who's your musical inspiration? >> a lot of the girls.

madonna, cher, britney, beyonce, gwen stefani. all of the fabulous pop girls, honestly. >> reporter: now she's laurgnchg a new project called clarity and a new tour. congratulations. >> thank you very much. >> reporter: sold out now. >> that's right. ♪ hope to god >> reporter: it also marks a shift in tone for the pop star. >> it started out with the song "broken", which is about me being heartbroken and going through a rough breakup and feeling really, really lost in life. my personal life was just like trash. >> reporter: so you poured it all into your music. >> i put it all into my music. because writing songs is like my, kind of like my therapy. >> reporter: fans were first

drawn to her voice through viral videos like this cover of chris brown's "don't wake me up." ♪ don't wake me up >> reporter: her sound soon capturing attention in the music industry, and catapulting her into real recording studios. >> what i learned from my story is that it's really important to speak about it. because i get so many beautiful messages from people all over the world. my music, and my videos gave them a place where they belong, and that's really beautiful. >> reporter: her honesty in those early videos helping change the conversation about trans stars, making their identity just a part of their artistry. >> i love the fact that we have someone who is out and proud and vocal about her trans identity. >> it's bubble gum pop, but it just has a little edge. >> took a 14-hour flight to get to this concert. >> like she's pop music. she's saving it. >> reporter: you have performed

a lot in gay bars and clubs. how many have heard her in a gay bar or club? you can cheer. >> i feel like i was raised in gay clubs. like my whole life i was going to gay clubs with my friends, going to hang out with my gay homies. like they're my family. they're my friends, they're like my whole life, basically, is a gay club at this point. it's meant the world to me to have people want to listen to, like, my songs. and, you know, sing back the lyrics that i'm writing and relate to it. it's really made me feel like, i don't know. like i belong. >> reporter: once her daydream, now her whole life is a diva's cocktail of rehearsals. wardrobe changes. >> take off jacket. >> reporter: and concert lineups. >> it's about 20 seconds, 30 seconds intro. >> reporter: but it always comes back to her fans. >> good to see you. >> you too.

♪ >> reporter: and now her work is reminding them to be brave and keep dreaming. >> i want to be a spokes person. in the beginning, i was really scared of it, because back in the day, like transgender was the only thing people wanted to talk to me about. i'm not scared anymore of people saying i'm using my identity or using the gay community or anything like that, because i'm a gay, i'm not scared. ♪ ♪ la, la, la, la >> kim's new project "clarity" is dropping on friday. next, a historic first for one iraq war veteran. the country's highest honor. stelara® works differently. studies showed relief and remission, with dosing every 8 weeks. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer.

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and finally tonight, the historic honor for an iraq war veteran, going above and beyond the call of duty. army staff sergeant david belavia, he and his band of brothers encountered enemy fire

in fallujah. he risked his own life to save his entire squad. now the historic honor at the white house today. he became the first living medal of honor recipient from the iraq war. and standing alongside him, the 32 american service members who fought with him, brothers in arms. and we salute david g bellavia. that's "nightline." and we salute david g bellavia. that's "nightline." you can always catch our ♪ ♪ and we salute david g bellavia. that's "nightline." you can always catch our ♪ this is how driving should feel. the tech-advanced nissan leaf. the best selling electric vehicle of all time.

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