4 ms·
Palo Alto, Mountain View, and other peninsula communities don't spend money on homeless shelters for two big reasons: 1) San Francisco spends a ton of money on
by scurvy 11y ago
Palo Alto, Mountain View, and other peninsula communities don't spend money on homeless shelters for two big reasons:
1) San Francisco spends a ton of money on the homeless. Over $40k per homeless person per year. "If big SF spends so much on the homeless, why should little ol' us?"
2) The weather in the Bay Area is not particularly harsh. Yeah, it might get cold 1-3 days a year, but it's not really bad. You're not going to die from exposure to the elements like you would in Cleveland, Detroit, or even Dallas. "No one will die sleeping outside here" is a common thought.
I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with these thoughts, but this is what peninsula planners think.
- beatpanda 11y agoCitation needed for "$40k per homeless person per year". I used to work directly with homeless people and that doesn't sound even remotely true. And even if you have the top line figure correct I suspect there's some missing context.
- scurvy 11y ago$189M in the city's budget goes directly to homeless services. That's roughly $25k per homeless person in direct spending. The city estimates it spends another $20k per homeless person in indirect city services (health, police, fire). The "frequent fliers" cost the city more than $100k per year. In many ways, $40k per person is a low-end figure.
- masonicb00m 11y agoMayor just committed to $250MM/yr (http://www.sfmayor.org/index.aspx?recordid=1017&page=846 http://www.sfmayor.org/index.aspx?recordid=1017&page=846)
- vskarine 11y agohttp://www.businessinsider.com/greg-gopman-solving-homelessness-in-san-francisco-2015-1 http://www.businessinsider.com/greg-gopman-solving-homelessn... "It costs the city $61,000 per year between ER’s, jail, and support services per homeless person living on the streets."