The number of people sleeping outdoors dropped to under 3,000 in January, the lowest the city has recorded in a decade, according to a federal count.
And that figure has likely dropped even lower since Mayor London Breed — a Democrat in a difficult reelection fight this November — started ramping up enforcement of anti-camping laws in August following a U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Homelessness in no way has gone away, and in fact grew 7%, to 8,300 in January, according to the same federal count.
But the problem is now notably out of the public eye, raising the question of where people have gone and whether the change marks a turning point in a crisis long associated with San Francisco.
Homelessness in no way has gone away, and in fact grew 7%, to 8,300 in January, according to the same federal count.
Oh, good, who needs to address a problem when you can ignore it?
This isn’t a partizan issue, just like immigration, Democrats are fucking horrible on homelessness too.
So why is the number at a decade low under a democratic mayor???
How are you in the comment thread of an article that says homeless camping is at decade low, with a Democrat in charge, and saying the Democrats don’t care?
I guess you’re just that dense.
Republicans simply want to push the problem into other communities. Half of the Democrats want to do the same. There are a good chunk of faux progressive politicians that recognize a grift opportunity and then get money funneled to NGOs that have no oversight. But there is at least a small percentage of Democratic politicians wanting to actually solve the problem. In my county, the county bought up several hotels/motels and are housing a couple thousand homeless. In LA, they did something similar except they gave the money to an NGO that was supposed to buy up hotels and make them usable by the homeless. Instead, the NGO decided it would be a good idea to also borrow a bunch of money also to purchase the properties, couldn’t repay the loan and then the properties were repossessed and house zero homeless.
Aside from lots of blue state tax dollars that feasibility could be spend on homelessness and other infrastructure projects subsidize red states.
And any truly effective solutions can’t be at the city or state level, else homeless folks will migrate there for a better life, thus overwhelming the local system. It has to be federal. That means republicans get to shoot it down yet again, with how tight congress is.
I mean,
How do you read the article, see that the number of people sleeping outside is as low as it’s been in a decade, dropped from a number that was increasing, and then say nothing is being done about it?
Your gymnastics are of the type brought to the Olympics by the Russian team.
Homelessness in no way has gone away, and in fact grew 7%, to 8,300 in January, according to the same federal count.
Then YOUR gymnastics are at the Russian elite spy level in a Bond movie.
The story goes on to say that numbers are incredibly hard to count, they’ve put a lot of work into what is supposed to be transitional shelter (single occupant units, repurposed hotels, etc), and work is ongoing to make these transitional housing options truly transitional by working toward affordable housing options in/around the city. Part of the solution is to get people off the “street”, but there’s more work to be done to ensure there are options for those who can’t use the current temporary housing (due to drug use, breaking the housing rules, not comfortable with the mandatory checks, etc). Also still work to be done to, like one person in the story mentioned, ensure that this temporary housing is indeed transitional and not permanent. Their funding is less this year so there’s concern the progress being made will be difficult to improve upon.
San Francisco has increased the number of shelter beds and permanent supportive housing units by more than 50% over the past six years.
Read the article before commenting next time.
Shelters are not permanent living accommodations. They don’t let you stay in them long-term. On top of that, everything from just basic theft to sexual assault happens in shelters.
Also, if you have a dog, you can’t bring the dog with you. If you’re a woman alone on the streets, having a dog around to protect you is a pretty good idea.
So increasing the number of shelter beds doesn’t do shit. Permanent housing units, fine. But touting shelters is just bullshit.
The article specifically describes the housing options that are single-occupant with doors that lock and accommodation for pets. They are also working on solutions for couples to help keep them together where possible. It’s not ideal, and it’s not a permanent fix, but they interviewed someone that’s staying in the safe, clean, cabins while attending a 2 year college program to get a better paying job.
There is definitely more that the state could be doing as a whole, but they are investing a lot of money into programs and housing with free or heavily subsidized rent to help people get back on their feet. The article specifically mentioned a model where “rent” costs 30% of the resident’s income and the rest is covered by a rental assistance program.
You skipped the “and permanent housing units” part of my comment. Shelters are a step to getting off the street. They give homeless access to information and resources to improve their position. It is in no way “ignoring the problem” like you claim. Short of singlehandedly solving poverty, what do you expect a mayor to do?
