4 ms·

Drone photos show S.F.'s first city-sanctioned tent encampment

carapace 6y ago
Disclosure up front: I was homeless for about four and a half years at one point, and I'm from San Francisco. On the one hand, I can't believe it took a EXPLETIVE DELETED pandemic to get San Francisco to do the simple, cheap, obvious, humane thing. On the other hand, thank God we're doing it now. Most homeless people who aren't actually mentally ill, who are just having a hard time, just need a safe place to keep their stuff, sleep at night, and clean themselves and their stuff. If we provide that they can get back to being stable productive members of society on their own. We can also identify the folks who need more help due to mental illness and/or personal problems. It also helps to keep drama, petty crime, and drug use low when you have "entrances that are monitored by officials 24 hours a day." And it helps with the pandemic too! > The Safe Sleeping Village model is being piloted as a short-term, temporary method ... Let's hope "short-term, temporary" means "until we solve homelessness" and not "until we feel safe kicking everyone back to the curb", eh?
- jelliclesfarm 6y ago
  Why is this a good idea? The number of homeless people increased because they turned people out of shelter beds. [..] The new village is part of a pilot program to bring organization around the growing number of tents covering city sidewalks. A city count at the beginning of the month revealed a 71% increase in tents citywide since January and 285% increase in the Tenderloin, according to the San Francisco Examiner. "The City has estimated that an increase has occurred based on having had to reduce the number of shelter beds," the city said in a statement.[..]
  - carapace 6y ago
    Ah I missed that part. I assumed that these folks were "overflow" from the available spaces without thinking about it. I've heard although I don't know if it's true that we're sheltering people in Moscone Center. The good thing is letting people have a safe stable place to live even if it's just a tent in Civic Center. Instead we typically send police to roust folks and take all their stuff.
    - jelliclesfarm 6y ago
      Do homeless people come to San Francisco because services are not available in cheaper CoL elsewhere? I don’t think public spaces should be used to house homeless people in tents. Public spaces and commons belong to everyone.
      - carapace 6y ago
        > Do homeless people come to San Francisco because services are not available in cheaper CoL elsewhere? It was ~20 years ago now, and I can't speak for every homeless person obviously, but no, SF has (had?) a rep as being a bit tougher and more dangerous than other West Coast cities. There's a "hub" of sorts around Haight St. for travelers but most SF city homeless folks are not involved w/ the hippies and travelers. > I don’t think public spaces should be used to house homeless people in tents. Public spaces and commons belong to everyone. I absolutely agree. Let me clarify that I don't think this move is an absolute good, just that it's much better than rousting people and taking their stuff. Ideally, we would construct ~0.5 million houses and apartments and everyone can just live inside if they want to, eh? (The last thing I read said the national housing shortfall in the USA is around 400,000 units!)
        jelliclesfarm 6y ago
        I agree. The solution for homelessness is to build more homes. The problem seems to be that everyone wants to live in the same high cost of living metro/urban areas. There are cheaper places in California where everyone can be housed. Having said that..not specifically about homelessness but more re housing affordability(because they can be connected) I like the Singapore model..where high density home complexes are built and given out on 99 year leases for different income levels. Over 76% of Singapore’s population is housed this way. It takes the pressure off housing affordability. But then again..Singapore is a benevolent dictatorship...their way of governance won’t fly in California.

Disclosure up front: I was homeless for about four and a half years at one point, and I'm from San Francisco. On the one hand, I can't believe it took a EXPLETIVE DELETED pandemic to get San Francisco to do the simple, cheap, obvious, humane thing. On the other hand, thank God we're doing it now. Most homeless people who aren't actually mentally ill, who are just having a hard time, just need a safe place to keep their stuff, sleep at night, and clean themselves and their stuff. If we provide that they can get back to being stable productive members of society on their own. We can also identify the folks who need more help due to mental illness and/or personal problems. It also helps to keep drama, petty crime, and drug use low when you have "entrances that are monitored by officials 24 hours a day." And it helps with the pandemic too! > The Safe Sleeping Village model is being piloted as a short-term, temporary method ... Let's hope "short-term, temporary" means "until we solve homelessness" and not "until we feel safe kicking everyone back to the curb", eh?

jelliclesfarm 6y ago
Why is this a good idea? The number of homeless people increased because they turned people out of shelter beds. [..] The new village is part of a pilot program to bring organization around the growing number of tents covering city sidewalks. A city count at the beginning of the month revealed a 71% increase in tents citywide since January and 285% increase in the Tenderloin, according to the San Francisco Examiner. "The City has estimated that an increase has occurred based on having had to reduce the number of shelter beds," the city said in a statement.[..]
- carapace 6y ago
  Ah I missed that part. I assumed that these folks were "overflow" from the available spaces without thinking about it. I've heard although I don't know if it's true that we're sheltering people in Moscone Center. The good thing is letting people have a safe stable place to live even if it's just a tent in Civic Center. Instead we typically send police to roust folks and take all their stuff.
  - jelliclesfarm 6y ago
    Do homeless people come to San Francisco because services are not available in cheaper CoL elsewhere? I don’t think public spaces should be used to house homeless people in tents. Public spaces and commons belong to everyone.
    - carapace 6y ago
      > Do homeless people come to San Francisco because services are not available in cheaper CoL elsewhere? It was ~20 years ago now, and I can't speak for every homeless person obviously, but no, SF has (had?) a rep as being a bit tougher and more dangerous than other West Coast cities. There's a "hub" of sorts around Haight St. for travelers but most SF city homeless folks are not involved w/ the hippies and travelers. > I don’t think public spaces should be used to house homeless people in tents. Public spaces and commons belong to everyone. I absolutely agree. Let me clarify that I don't think this move is an absolute good, just that it's much better than rousting people and taking their stuff. Ideally, we would construct ~0.5 million houses and apartments and everyone can just live inside if they want to, eh? (The last thing I read said the national housing shortfall in the USA is around 400,000 units!)
      - jelliclesfarm 6y ago
        I agree. The solution for homelessness is to build more homes. The problem seems to be that everyone wants to live in the same high cost of living metro/urban areas. There are cheaper places in California where everyone can be housed. Having said that..not specifically about homelessness but more re housing affordability(because they can be connected) I like the Singapore model..where high density home complexes are built and given out on 99 year leases for different income levels. Over 76% of Singapore’s population is housed this way. It takes the pressure off housing affordability. But then again..Singapore is a benevolent dictatorship...their way of governance won’t fly in California.