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I keep hearing that SF spends so much money on the homeless, but I don't see that to be the case. NYC spent $3.2b in 2019 [1]; they guarantee a bed for every pe
by redm 7y ago
I keep hearing that SF spends so much money on the homeless, but I don't see that to be the case. NYC spent $3.2b in 2019 [1]; they guarantee a bed for every person, every night, etc. If SF wants to solve the issue, look to NYC, and open it's checkbook.
[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-22/nyc-doubles-spending-on-homelessness-to-3-2-billion-since-2014 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-22/nyc-doubl...
- jaxbot 7y agoHold on a second. NYer here. Yes, we spent a lot of money on the problem. But we did not 'solve the issue.' Not even close. Our problem doesn't seem as bad as SF's (perhaps just less visible due to more clearing), but we still regularly have human feces to deal with, train cars trashed, people screaming/disturbed, etc. I think it's key to remember the difference, albeit overlapping, between homeless and emotionally-distressed. You can be homeless and nobody would know -- living in shelters, working a job, etc. You can also have a home and appear, as far as we're all concerned, to be homeless, by begging on trains or acting in other anti-social ways.
- lazyasciiart 7y agoI don't think they are saying that New York has solved it, but that SF can't solve it without doing at least as much as NYC.
- Zarath 7y agoWe could just pay them to sweep the streets or do very simple tasks that make things nicer for all of us. Not sure why it is so difficult.
- evmar 7y agoNYC's budget is roughly 10x SF's budget. So proportionally, SF could spend ~$320m to match, which is actually right around what it does spend. (NYC is also ~10x the population of SF, etc., so that also lines up pretty well.)