4 ms·

I visited San Fran last week and with each visit I'm shocked by the plight of the homeless there. I've lived(NYC, Philly & more)in and been in many cities acro

I visited San Fran last week and with each visit I'm shocked by the plight of the homeless there. I've lived(NYC, Philly & more)in and been in many cities across the US and never witnessed this on such a scale/epidemic. It made me wonder what the government is doing there to help with what I see as an epidemic?

tomkarlo 13y ago
SF actually has a tiny homeless population compared to NY or LA, at least in number. But they're much more concentrated around the high-traffic Union Sq / Tenderloin area than most cities, and you also tend to cross paths with them more if you drive less. LA, by comparison, has a much bigger homeless population but you rarely see them when you live there, because they're spread out and you tend to drive by them rather than walking.
isalmon 13y ago
It's just warmer in SF comparing to NYC/Philly, so to me at comes as no surprise.
tlrobinson 13y ago
Giving people money to be homeless probably doesn't help. "The city of San Francisco, California, due to its mild climate and its social programs that have provided cash payments for homeless individuals, is often considered the homelessness capital of the United States" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_the_United_States#San_Francisco https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_the_United_Sta...
- tomkarlo 13y ago
  That wikipedia page is a train wreck. It's pretty clear there's an edit war going on between two political factions that are uninterested in keeping things factual. Wikipedia is great but in some situations the quality of the content goes way downhill at the hands of people with alternate agendas.
bluedino 13y ago
A lot of those people have mental illness and don't want to live in a home. And a lot of people go there with the intention of being homeless because they are treated fairly well by the city and there are lot of people to panhandle from or perform for.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
eli_gottlieb 13y ago
Ever been to Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA?

tomkarlo 13y ago

SF actually has a tiny homeless population compared to NY or LA, at least in number. But they're much more concentrated around the high-traffic Union Sq / Tenderloin area than most cities, and you also tend to cross paths with them more if you drive less. LA, by comparison, has a much bigger homeless population but you rarely see them when you live there, because they're spread out and you tend to drive by them rather than walking.

isalmon 13y ago

It's just warmer in SF comparing to NYC/Philly, so to me at comes as no surprise.

tlrobinson 13y ago

Giving people money to be homeless probably doesn't help. "The city of San Francisco, California, due to its mild climate and its social programs that have provided cash payments for homeless individuals, is often considered the homelessness capital of the United States" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_the_United_States#San_Francisco https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_the_United_Sta...

tomkarlo 13y ago
That wikipedia page is a train wreck. It's pretty clear there's an edit war going on between two political factions that are uninterested in keeping things factual. Wikipedia is great but in some situations the quality of the content goes way downhill at the hands of people with alternate agendas.

bluedino 13y ago

A lot of those people have mental illness and don't want to live in a home. And a lot of people go there with the intention of being homeless because they are treated fairly well by the city and there are lot of people to panhandle from or perform for.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

eli_gottlieb 13y ago

Ever been to Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA?