4 ms·

Please understand that San Francisco has some of the most extensive programs for the homeless/poor in the country. There are homeless prenatal services, clinics

Please understand that San Francisco has some of the most extensive programs for the homeless/poor in the country. There are homeless prenatal services, clinics, shelters, food programs, healthcare, job training programs, low income housing, mail services, free blankets, clothing, etc. Heck, there is a program to give puppies from animal control to panhandlers and pay them a stipend for watching them. A good number of panhandlers aren't homeless. Many suffer from mental illness and California hasn't done forced mental treatment since Reagan. A large minority are addicted to drugs or alcohol. Very few are actually hungry (in SF, food stamps come on a debit card that can be used not only at grocery stores, but at many restaurants and even farmer's markets). On top of that the San Francisco Food Bank distributes 100,000 meals a day worth of food. What I'm trying to get at here is that even with all this stuff, the problem basically isn't going away. It is really complicated and giving someone your leftover food might make you feel better, but I doubt it'll solve the underlying problem.

mc32 14y ago
The city, in my opinion, does provide above average (compared to other US cities) care to homeless via many city and non-profit programs. Part of how they fund those programs is a problem. The problem is that the non-profits are not subject to sunshine laws so that we may not know how effective those monies have been. For example, over the years the city in its wisdom has seen it fit to divert over 600million from the Hetch Hetchy system into the general fund (which is where police, parks and non-profits can apply for funding). so now the city is asking for a prop to raise 3.6 billion to fix the Hetch Hetchy water system --which they'd been neglecting. In any event, the homeless and mental illness problem cannot be a city or state issue. It needs to become a national issue so that the problem can be addressed nationally but delivered locally. Otherwise people with these issues are attracted by places which treat them nicely (and thus over tax the locality) while migrating away from places which provide little treatment --i.e the 'nice' places get penalized for trying to be nice. http://www.sfgate.com/green/article/A-CHRONICLE-SPECIAL-REPORT-S-F-looted-region-s-2796611.php http://www.sfgate.com/green/article/A-CHRONICLE-SPECIAL-REPO... http://www.sfbg.com/39/23/cover_foi_nonprofits.html http://www.sfbg.com/39/23/cover_foi_nonprofits.html

mc32 14y ago

The city, in my opinion, does provide above average (compared to other US cities) care to homeless via many city and non-profit programs. Part of how they fund those programs is a problem. The problem is that the non-profits are not subject to sunshine laws so that we may not know how effective those monies have been. For example, over the years the city in its wisdom has seen it fit to divert over 600million from the Hetch Hetchy system into the general fund (which is where police, parks and non-profits can apply for funding). so now the city is asking for a prop to raise 3.6 billion to fix the Hetch Hetchy water system --which they'd been neglecting. In any event, the homeless and mental illness problem cannot be a city or state issue. It needs to become a national issue so that the problem can be addressed nationally but delivered locally. Otherwise people with these issues are attracted by places which treat them nicely (and thus over tax the locality) while migrating away from places which provide little treatment --i.e the 'nice' places get penalized for trying to be nice. http://www.sfgate.com/green/article/A-CHRONICLE-SPECIAL-REPORT-S-F-looted-region-s-2796611.php http://www.sfgate.com/green/article/A-CHRONICLE-SPECIAL-REPO... http://www.sfbg.com/39/23/cover_foi_nonprofits.html http://www.sfbg.com/39/23/cover_foi_nonprofits.html